Quick release tailstock

Any of you ever made a quick release tailstock lock? I'm thing along the lines of a camlock to replace the nut on the tailstock of my old Sheldon. Got involved with a project that requires alot of MT2 too changes for each piece and am looking for a way to speed things up

Reply to
GMasterman
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On my South Bend 10K, the tailstock kind of _is_ quick release. It only takes the ~1/4 turn to release/lock. Throw the wrench to the right and it's free.

But, it sounds like maybe a turret would be better perhaps? There are generic MT2 tailstock turrets from Enco.

Reply to
John Hofstad-Parkhill

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My Clausing 12x24" tailstock *should* have a quick release, but doesn't. It (according to the manual) is a lever which cams a collar up around the bolt, and is adjusted by the nut on top. To release, you lift it up, to lock, you press it back down.

Unfortunately, that was long gone when I got it. Some of these days, I have to make one to serve the function, as the hex wrench needs to be disengaged and moved one flat (in addition to its free swing) to go from fully locked to free to move. A bit of a nuisance. :-)

Or even better -- a bed turret, if available. My Clausing came with a matching serial number bed turret, and no tailstock. For some operations, that turret is a lot better than a tailstock -- especially when making multiple identical parts from bar stock. I'm willing to bet that Sheldon made one for your machine -- but finding one may be the trick.

The turret has a separate stroke stop for each tool station, so for repetitive part production, once you have it set up, you just crank out parts all day, without having to worry about how far you are cranking the turret each pass.

Note that my turret takes 1" cylindrical shank tools, but among the things which I have acquired for it are some MT-2 sockets which fit nicely.

The one thing which the turret is *not* good for is holding a live (or dead) center for turning between centers, as it has no provisions for locking it at some point of its stroke. For that, the tailstock is the better choice.

Good Luck, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

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