Head and tailstock not lining up

[Anonymous]

The head and tail stocks on my Axminster M900 don't line up properly.
I noticed it recently when I tried to remount something I had turned between centres.

I ground a small amount from the tailstock guide (? the bit that locates it in the bed) and this enables me to line them up, but is a now bit loose, and a pain in the butt for remounting and drilling.

Any suggestions?

On a happier note - my brother came down from Derbyshire last week and had told me he had got me "a few bits of wood" that they were throwing out from the joiners shop where he works..."just off cuts" he said...

The smallect piece was 12" x 4" x 2"!
All quality stuff - beech, oak and mohogany


Might be worth checking with you local joiners shop to see if they are throwing anything out!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Rooohster

I had a msg from the Nova owners group ...someone with a similar problem.

The suggestion was to use brass shims glued on (epoxy?).

The Hegner, as I understand it, uses ball bearings on springs to keep the tailstock aligned... brass shims would be easier for DIY...

don't go telling everyone about the wood source... there'll be none left when i get there

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Graham, I'll try some shims!

Yeah, the free wood was what I beieve they call "a right result"...
Anyone wanna sell a bandsaw?

 

[Anonymous]

They don't really make them to lign up. As you know, on metal working lathes, if they don't lign up, it's a big deal cause the crosslide will cut tapers all day long. So they build those lathes with an adjustible feature.

On a wood lathe, the cut is basicaly one's response to what one sees, so it really doesnt mater wheter the lathe wants to cut tapers or not. I'm sure there are some things like drilling lamps where gross misalignment would be detrimental, but mostly it doesn't mater.

 

[Jaco]

Agree with PeterPan, alignment not a major issue where starting from scratch.