Chinese 7x12" lathe, tailstock centers 1/8" above head stock center.

[WobblyHand]

Speaking only for myself, my lathe and tailstock are from LMS. The tailstock is quite high. It needs to be lowered. My horizontal offset is controlled by a differential screw tailstock adjuster that I made and documented. The horizontal offset has been trimmed practically to zero. My headstock has been adjusted to pretty low runout in the horizontal direction. The vertical tilt, while not great, is acceptable.

The OP got their lathe from an entity who may have assembled it from a bin of rejected parts. If it was me, I'd first try buying the tailstock assembly from LMS. It's likely to be high, as the factory makes them this way on purpose to accommodate wear. However, 0.125" high could mean that the tailstock is made totally wrong, or assembled wrong, or the tailstock is riding on top of the locking plate, instead of the ways.

 

[WobblyHand]

I would have called my credit card company and gotten my money back- no way you should need to fix stuff like that
-Mark

A 1/8" higher tailstock, if real, should cause the OP to try to get their money back. Not made correctly.

 

[WobblyHand]

I would have called my credit card company and gotten my money back- no way you should need to fix stuff like that
Don't buy imported junk without a company behind you (like Grizzly or PM)
-Mark

If you are within the time window, eBay will stand up for you. But you need to tell them the lathe is not functional and not as described. Barring that, go direct to your CC company. The CC companies want happy consumers and can claw back funds if necessary.

@wahooo , First make sure everything is as you think. Why don't you post a couple of pictures here and let other HM members take a look? Maybe there is something overlooked, or simple? We can't tell without a photo or two. We like pictures here

 

[wahooo]

A one piece tailstock? Can't adjust the horizontal offset then. A mini-lathe tailstock is typically 2 pieces. The base, and main casting. The base has the pyramidal section and the flat that rides on the ways. The base also has a key. The main casting can adjust horizontally along the keyway. Typically there is a lock screw underneath. I modified mine so the locking screw comes in from the top.
View attachment 377852View attachment 377853
Shimming the headstock could work, but is less forgiving than working on the tailstock. If the headstock is not aligned, your lathe won't work well, you will cut a taper when you don't want to. Having a misaligned tailstock doesn't change how the lathe cuts UNLESS you are using a dead or live center. Then the misalignment will cause taper. You will have a terrible time drilling from the tailstock as well.

What makes it tough is the tailstock isn't really true anywhere. On the picture on the right, you can see 2 numbers, 31.6 and 23. That's the height difference in thousandths from the back left corner. If I recall correctly, the back right corner was 10. So you need to measure stuff and take some off in the right places. One good thing is if you go too far, height-wise, you can always shim it back. The other good thing is the tailstock castings are not hugely expensive if you screw it up. All I can suggest is to take a little off at a time and reassemble and see what happened and make your next move.

 

[wahooo]

If you are within the time window, eBay will stand up for you. But you need to tell them the lathe is not functional and not as described. Barring that, go direct to your CC company. The CC companies want happy consumers and can claw back funds if necessary.

@wahooo , First make sure everything is as you think. Why don't you post a couple of pictures here and let other HM members take a look? Maybe there is something overlooked, or simple? We can't tell without a photo or two. We like pictures here

I can try that. Thanks everyone.

 

[wahooo]

For 86 bucks, I would skip all the irritation, and buy this instead. In doing so, you upgrade to cam-lock for the tailstock too!
You should confirm your headstock is at the right height, and not aiming downward. Put a rod in it, and see if the distance between the ways and the rod remains consistent the full length.

Tailstock

Tailstock

www.littlemachineshop.com

i did buy that one, and it's high, too. I don't know hth the headstock can be low?

 

[wahooo]

I would have called my credit card company and gotten my money back- no way you should need to fix stuff like that
Don't buy imported junk without a company behind you (like Grizzly or PM)
-Mark

it's been over a year. It never occurred to me that the thing could be THIS messed-up. I used a debit card back then.

 

[WobblyHand]

Can you post some pictures? It helps a lot. We can't see what you see, unless you post them.

 

[wahooo]

I would have called my credit card company and gotten my money back- no way you should need to fix stuff like that
Don't buy imported junk without a company behind you (like Grizzly or PM)
-Mark

according to MANY forum posts and lots of yt vids, the grizzly is all messed up too, so you just waste $300 more on it.

 

[WobblyHand]

it's been over a year. It never occurred to me that the thing could be THIS messed-up. I used a debit card back then.

Well, you own it now. Sorry. Well, post some pics and we will try to offer some suggestions.