I bought a second hand delta lathe (the sort on legs). The seller also included a tailstock chuck. I have attempted to use this a couple of times and failed miserably. The chuck has a square end. The delta lathe tailstock is round with no square to slot the chuck into. As a consequence it spins freely. They guy I bought it from had definitely used it with this lathe, so I am wondering what I am missing. How do I keep the chuck stationary.
Kat
Square end, as in a taper with a couple of flats? That's fairly normal with self-ejecting tapers. Make sure you crank the tailstock quill forward a bit so the taper will seat properly. Advance it until you feel it seat, then a quarter turn. It may mean, as it does on mine, that you can't begin drilling at the zero mark, but you want to make sure the taper is seated properly to center, and the quill tightened to reduce gratuitous movement. To remove, all you have to do is crank the stock back, and it will eject.
sorry, what is a quill?,
no the chuck is round for most of its length, then at the end is changes to a square. The square if I remember correctly is the sam diameter diagonally as the round bit. I cant seen anything at all that you could seat it into.
I am wondering, are you saying that the morse taper has a tang on the end, like shown on the small end of the morse taper on this drill chuck?:
Derek
The quill is the tube that is revealed toward the headstock as you crank. Sounds like you have a self-ejecting taper. You crank the handle until you see about a half inch of the quill, then try seating the taper.
Clean the thing first, should it need it.
Senior moment.
I had a similar problem with a drill chuck and simply ground off the squared end and the morse taper fit fine. Robert
Moggy, The tang at the end of the taper can be ground off. You don't need it for lathe work. The tang is there for the purposes of using the taper in a drill press, and is thus useless for lathe work. If you take off the tang you can use more of the quill travel because it will be less protruded when first seated.
-Jim Gott- San Jose, CA
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.