11/28/2023 0 Comments Clock mini lathe![]() The tailstock locking bolt that comes with the lathe uses a metric thread. You’ll notice in later pictures that I ground all faces and rounded the edges on the frame block using my 12″ Disc Sander… Now a little butane torch warm up and a rap with a brass punch and hammer and I’ll have these two back apart easily… Got a 1/2″ cross bore through the frame block and the actuating piston. Loctite will release with temperature, so I will be able to get these two apart again… The reason being I wanted to Loctite the piston into the frame block and drill the camshaft crossbore through both as a unit, ensuring a good fit. ![]() I have not yet drilled that camshaft cross bore. The locking piston is just a cylinder turned to fit the 7/8″ bore of the frame block. Having completed the piston bore, I used the height gage to mark out the centerline of the piston bore so I could center the cross hole for the camshaft properly on the piston bore… This is the largest size I thought I could drill for the cam piston bore and still leave enough meat on the frame block to act as a proper pivotig hub for the camshaft… Then I bumped up to a 7/8″ Silver & Deming bit. I drilled a 1/2″ pilot at that point on the milling machine… Then I used a 1/2″ transfer punch to locate the hole for the tailstock locking bolt on the frame block… I cut a piece of square stock to approximately the right size… The purpose of the frame block is to sit inside the cavity of the tailstock and stabilize the cam action from rocking. I doubt I’ll use the inner ring, but the outer ring will hold the operating lever in place so it can’t be pulled out. Next, I used my parting blade to put in a couple of grooves for snap rings to go on either side of a frame block. I decided to make the camshaft 1/2″ diameter, with an arbitrary larger diameter that will be used to mount the operating lever. I’ll try to allow for as much as 0.200″ travel… I determined by measuring a couple of photos that the action of the nut moves the locking bolt something on the order of 0.15″: I started out looking at how the existing lock works. The parts: frame block, locking piston, camshaft with lever, and locking bolt…Ĭhecking how much locking motion the cam must provide It’s good to see where you’re going with this: While it might be possible to adapt one, looking at the parts and directions for installing the LMS kit made me see that it is also pretty straightforward to make one from scratch for my lathe. It looks to me like it is for the little 7×14″ lathes. Unfortunately, the LMS kit isn’t made for the Lathemaster. Since seeing the Little Machine Shop tailstock camlock kit for mini-lathes, I’ve wanted to get something similar for my Lathemaster lathe. The parts are not finished as nicely as I would make them today, but the tailstock is very functional and was a real pleasure compared to having to search for a wrench and turn the original bolt to lock the tailstock. Probably not long after I got this little lathe. Note: This is a project I did MANY years ago.
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