I am experiencing drift in the lateral position of the tailstock of my EMCO compact 8 bench lathe. The construction of the tailstock is very simple as shown in the exploded diagram. The lateral position of the tailstock is fixed by two set screws ( part 15 in the diagram ). After the position is adjusted, it would change over time by around a thou although both screws stayed very tight. I took it apart and noticed that the screws are not sitting on the entire surface of the end as shown in picture 3. Can that be the reason ? Are there any fix to the problem ?
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Lateral position drift of the EMCO compact 8 lathe tailstock
- Thread starter compact8
- Start date
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- Jun 7, 2013
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- 10,389
I'm assuming that those setscrews should not be cup point, but instead should be dog or flat point. I'd get new screws and flatten the areas that were messed up by the cup point screws.
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2017
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This is very similar to what I found with my 9x20 which is the knockoff of the Compact 8 and is the same mechanism for tailstock adjustments. The major difference was the adjuster screws had points, not the dished ends like yours. It is very crucial the first time you lock those screws the tailstock needs to be locked down! The only thing that retains it vertically is the lockdown bolt. So if it’s not locked down those screws will embed themselves wrong because of the rotation of the screw. I’d file the old set screw marks off, lock the tailstock down and re embed them.
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- Feb 2, 2013
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- 3,820
I suppose you could remove the damaged area and braze a harder piece of steel in place.
If you dill sufficiently and add a bearing ball or a bb, you can have a member to displace the wear
If you dill sufficiently and add a bearing ball or a bb, you can have a member to displace the wear
Thanks for all the replies. I have milled off the worn-out areas and changed the set screws to those with pointed ends. As adviced I also make sure that the tailstock is clamped down before tightening those screws for the first time. Hope this will solve the problem.