# Rotating tailstock Faceplate/Chuck



## Skarven (Oct 10, 2014)

A revolving tailstock chuck to support long,odd and large pieces has been on my todo list for a long time.

Originally I had planned with tapered roller bearings, but I had the two ball bearings and little to no paitience!

1:  I made this rough drawing.

2:  I have limited selection of stock, so normally it all starts in the bandsaw.

3:  The resulting pieces after a lot of sawing.

4:  Drilling and tapping for a small 3-jaw and a 120mm 4-jaw chuck. (and a mistake ;-))

5:  All the parts finnished for final assembly with the MK3 arbor turned down to 20mm for the 20x42x12mm bearings.

6:  Faceplate in tailstock.

7:  With 120mm 4-jaw chuck.

8:  In use with a 140mm OD pipe.

It works! And it makes many tasks so much easier. (AND SAFER)
PM. I haven't learnt how to include the pictures in the text.

Kai


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## ortho (Oct 10, 2014)

Very nice work.  Would you need a draw bar?
---ortho


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## Bill Gruby (Oct 10, 2014)

ortho said:


> Very nice work.  Would you need a draw bar?
> ---ortho



  Without being funny or sarcastic, you lost me with that question. How would you use a draw bar in the lathe tailstock? There is no thru hole.

 Skarven -- that is a nice piece of work. Looks to be a handy tool to have in the inventory.

 "Billy G"


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## f350ca (Oct 10, 2014)

Nice work. I have a Bison one that I use quite often.

Greg


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## ortho (Oct 11, 2014)

Bill Gruby said:


> Without being funny or sarcastic, you lost me with that question. How would you use a draw bar in the lathe tailstock? There is no thru hole.
> 
> Skarven -- that is a nice piece of work. Looks to be a handy tool to have in the inventory.
> 
> "Billy G"



Yeah, you're right.  There is no thru hole and drawbars need thru holes.  It's just that when I first saw the pictures of the faceplate or the chuck cantilevering from the tailstock, I immediately thought that maybe something needs to be there to keep that Morse taper joint snug.  Otherwise, the faceplate or the chuck might slip axially. So I hastily concluded that a drawbar would be needed. :nuts:  The idea of having a faceplate or a chuck on the tailstock is attractive, though; I may consider making these.

---Joe


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## Skarven (Oct 11, 2014)

Thank you for kind remarks.
And yes, I would have liked to have a drawbar in the tailstock.  Not only for the rotating faceplate/chuck, but in some other situations too.
It would be nice to have when using a boring head in the tailstock to turn tapers.

I have seen a modification somewhere with a hollow spindle making room for a drawbar, but on my lathe it means making a new spindle and modifying the tailstock body.
There is not enough justification to go through all that.  It would mainly be to avoid things falling out of the tailstock during setup.
When turning, there is normally some force pushing things into the tailstock.


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## ortho (Oct 11, 2014)

Skarven said:


> . . . . . When turning, there is normally some force pushing things into the tailstock.



Hey, Skarven, there's that solution to that falling out problem.  Thanks!  )

---Joe


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## Bill Gruby (Oct 11, 2014)

Skarven said:


> Thank you for kind remarks.
> And yes, I would have liked to have a drawbar in the tailstock.  Not only for the rotating faceplate/chuck, but in some other situations too.
> It would be nice to have when using a boring head in the tailstock to turn tapers.
> 
> ...



 I would really like to see that article. That has to be a ton of work to accomplish. I would think it would be easier to make a whole new tailstock rather that modify one. Interesting concept though. I have to think on this one.

 "Billy G"


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## Rick Leslie (Oct 11, 2014)

Just echoing the popular sentiments, but that is really nice work. Did you have a blank Morse Taper piece to start with? (Maybe I missed where you said.) Still a good idea with excellent execution.


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## Skarven (Oct 12, 2014)

Bill G
I have been looking for that article, but can't find it. It might be on my old PC. I'll have a look.

Rick
Yes, I had a couple of blank MK3 arbors with a 22mm shaft.  Bearings for 22mm shafts are rare and about 5 - 10 times the price of 20mm ones, so I turned the blank down to 20mm
The front part of the blank was very easy to machine.

Kai


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## Rick Leslie (Oct 12, 2014)

Thanks. Now I'm curious as to how you held the tapered arbor to turn down the bearing surface. I've got a couple of unused MT-Jacobs arbors that I may use to shamelessly copy your project.


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## Skarven (Oct 12, 2014)

Rick.
That was the easiest part. My headstock spindle has MT5 so I just removed the chuck and used the MT5 - MT3 sleeve supplied with the lathe when I bought it.
In addition I used a live center in the tailstock to push the blank arbor into the spindle to avoid any accidents!
I normally use a drawbar when using the Morse taper in the headstock, but the blanks I had was the tang type.
Kai


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## Rick Leslie (Oct 13, 2014)

That was simple! I don't know why it didn't occur to me. I just tend to over-think everything. Thanks.


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