Tailstock Ram side play

May 03, 2005 3 Replies

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Bernard R 21 years ago

I'm running a 40 yr old South Bend 10L. As is common with this type of lathe the tailstock ram is locked with a side located split cotter. When checking the centering I get 0.002/3" lateral movement when I tighten the ram lock. For turning between centeres I zero with the ram locked, this means when trying to center drill there is runout. Obviously there is a limit to how much I can reduce it by tighening the lock and still have the ram move.

With this type of design I think it is inevitable that there will be some lateral movement of the ram; any suggestions on how to rectify/minimize it?

Thanks

Bernard R

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DeepDiver 21 years ago

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding that the center drill will automatically find its exact center in your workpiece, even with "slop" in the tailstock ram.

Regards, Michael

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jim rozen 21 years ago

My guess is that even if you had purchased a brand new 10L there would still be a thou or two of side play.

Short of trading your machine in on a bigger, more expensive lathe, I would say that the only way would be to precision hone the bore of the tailstock casting, and then have the ram hard-chromed and ground to size.

Jim

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Rex B 21 years ago

Or offset the tailstock the .002-.003 so it is aligned when locked. In fact, if the TS was aligned at some point, the ram should have been locked at the time. Maybe it's already OK - check it.

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