Well, the old tailstock is off and I've been using the new one since Friday. It works great and I like it much better even though there are only two blocks on it. I have a couple more already made -one is for a 5C holder and another is a shorter one that doesn't have a taper yet.
Normally, I don't use a leader rest with a jawed chuck but, I wasn't shooting for accuracy here since it's only the handle for a T-bar but it still came out within 1.5 thou end-to end. Leaders are under-rated and I use them often on the propeller shafts. Some folks put a roller bearing on them but I just use the bronze pads.
You'll notice a slight cut-back on the shaft near the chuck about 1" long. When you use a leader and are making a second pass (as in this picture), you need to make a cut back on shaft so the leader pads don't hit hard on the raised part of the uncut shaft. -Keep that in mind. Things would probably get ugly if you bang into that. You need to watch your chuck clearance too so, always make a dig mark where you need to stop the cut before crashing.
And here it is... There are two positioning/indexing pins. Right now these pins are made of junk steel but I'll make some hard ones soon. -Good enough for now. You can see the top-side one next to the block. There's also one in the center that feeds-in from the underside. I'll spring load it for convenience. The operation is pretty fast. Loosen the plate, pull the pins, rotate to the next station, insert the pins (they came out very well aligned), tighten the t-bar and go. The individual blocks now have their internal alignment pin and the bolts are torqued to 17 ftlb (about the recommended torque for grade 8, 5/16" bolts). It only took a few moments to align the the individual blocks. It re-seats very well and alignment is staying at about a half thou.
I need to make some knobs for the t-bar. I'd also like to get 1:8 LH leadscrew instead of the threaded rod but that's not a real big issue and I might never get around to it... The black oxide on the plate needs to be re-done. I had oil on my fingers the 1st time I did it and it's smudgy. The base needs to be treated but, I kinda like the bare steel t-bar and nut.
Anyhow, I like using it... Now I need to buy an extra chuck for a dedicated center bit.
Ray