Cleaning up MT2 and MT3 tapers?

[cdhknives]

After so many decades of hard use by several previous owners the bore of my spindle (especially) and tailstock are quite scarred up. I was thinking about trying to borrow/rent/buy reamers to knock off the high spots but read that some tailstock rams are hardened steel and will dull reamers. SO, will a HSS reamer work on a 10F spindle and tailstock or are they too hard?

If it will work, anyone know of a place that rents such reamers as they are fairly pricey for a 1 time use item?

 

[jpfabricator]

Pm sent

Jake Parker

 

[Rooster]

Greetings, perhaps you could look into having a professional grind them for you.
I can't see any-one renting something that could so easily damaged.

 

[benmychree]

The fact that they are scarred up hints that they are likely soft, and could be cleaned up with a reamer.

 

[magicniner]

The fact that they are scarred up hints that they are likely soft, and could be cleaned up with a reamer.

+1
Additionally (no pun intended) some of the problem spots are probably softer material smeared onto the surface.
My first job in the workshop this morning will now be to clean out my tailstock taper with a reamer.
The fingers on one hand will count how many times I've needed to use the reamer to clean the tailstock taper in 20+ years of using the lathe, this thread has reminded me that I've been noticing that tools haven't been locking in place quite as sweetly as they should without it yet being annoying enough to make me seek a solution.

 

[benmychree]

I, personally have no such problems with my lathe tailstock; I do not use it for such tasks as drilling, the center rarely leaves its home in the tailstock quill; those other tasks are accomplished with a morse taper holder in the Aloris tool post. Other lathes that I have run, specifically those American Pacemaker lathes, have had tang slots in the quill, which also helped the situation, although they also had drill holders for the compound rest, this being many years ago, sort of pre Aloris.

 

[magicniner]

I, personally have no such problems with my lathe tailstock; I do not use it for such tasks as drilling, the center rarely leaves its home in the tailstock quill.

It's nice to know you don't have a problem due to lack requirement for tool-changing.
I too have a QCTP holder for MT2 which is great for jobs requiring more travel than the Tail Stock facilitates but my self-ejecting Tail Stock is just so fast and convenient for Centre Drilling, pilot drilling and other operations within it's travel capability that that's what I use, purely because I don't waste time, I have other things to do

 

[benmychree]

Dare, I say that changing tools with a MT tool holder in the Aloris QCTP is quite a bit faster than in the tailstock could ever be? One little whack with a hammer is all it takes, and once you get used to it, center drilling is not at all difficult, at least in my experience.

 

[cdhknives]

Since my tailstock quill stays nicely aligned with the spindle centerline for drilling, it is much faster than aligning all 3 axis (X, Y, and rotation) for the QCTP MT2 holder, plus using a rod to knock out mounted items (much less holding long items) in the headstock MT3 taper (like my collet adapter for 3C collets or a dead center) is inevitably going to scratch up the bore there, plus using a drill chuck allows drills that don't come in MT2 shanks...like most all tap drill sizes. I change between centers and the drill chuck regularly. Then there are the small MT1 bits that require an adapter. The list goes on and on. Heck I could never accept the off center QCTP holder for drilling as it will want to twist off centerline under pressure...not a recipe for long lasting drills. No, the tailstock quill is the place for everyday drilling operations on my lathe. YMMV.

 

[cdhknives]

Good point in smears being transferred metal...that could mean the ram is harder than thought, or it could be soft and being gouged. Hard to tell and a dang small hole for inspection. I suspect a good HSS reamer will be ok in either case...I'll just need to use a delicate touch for cleanup, not try and hog out any significant metal. Still I wanted to see if anyone here actually had experience with this in an Atlas lathe.