Which Shim Stock

[Splat]

I need to correct my tailstock's vertical alignment. It's down just shy of 0.01". I must admit I forgot to check vertical alignment on it after refurbishing the lathe and started actually using it. Now I've got a few jobs coming up that I'd rather keep the work on the lathe and use the tailstock to drill instead of moving work to the mill. So what shim stock for the tailstock should i get? With galvanic corrosion in mind I'm thinking stainless or brass. What say ye?

 

[Mac1]

Brass will be easier to cut. I doubt if you will ever have galvanic corrosion.

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

I use metal spring shim stock I have not yet cut what is sticking out, and have to it is a accident ready to happen, I will use a dremel for that. I purchase the tailstock separately, the lathe with a 6 position rotary turret.

 

[4GSR]

Either one works, I've used both. On much larger lathes where the wear adjustment is great from remachining, re scraping slides, I use Micarta or similar material. My 20" L & S required .040" of shim between the halves of the tailstock to bring up to center.
BTW- shim it high by about .001"- .002" on smaller lathe to as much as .004" - .006" on larger lathes.

Ken

 

[Kernbigo]

buy a assortment of plastic on ebay, that is what i use

 

[Groundhog]

If you only need small shims (about 1/2" x 2") a mechanics feeler gauge set gives you a selection of thicknesses for cheap. I cut with tin snips and grind the rough edge off.

 

[Splat]

Thanks guys. I like the idea of using feeler gauges. I'm going to pull the TS apart and see what width I would need. It'd be great if I didn't need to buy a whole role or few sheets of shim stock for this.

 

[george wilson]

I will admit that I haven't used a plastic material for shimming a tailstock. But,just for my own use,I prefer to only use stainless steel or brass shim. I don't trust plastics to not deteriorate over the years,or to compress to some degree. Hey! We're talking about thousandths of an inch!

Now someone can refute me,but I do trust metal more for this purpose.

 

[Andre]

Brass will be easier to cut. I doubt if you will ever have galvanic corrosion.

Galvanic corrosion on stainless is probably nill, but between aluminum and brass it is real. I've seen several cases in-hand.

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

 

[george wilson]

Unless there is water inside the tailstock,how can significant galvanic corrosion happen?