making a hollow tailstock

Simple it can't be. Concentricity and strength of materials are critical.

Now you can make any number of "steadies" to support a drill bit chucked up in your tailstock. That would be my approach.

Geoff, Boring & confusing without a pic, but I'll try to explain. Ask privately if you wish.

I turned a MT2 for the hollow tail ram of my N3k and drilled a hole to feed a 3/8" lamp bit through, only to find that I didn't have the strength to push the long bit into the lamp blank held in the head spindle.

To use the mechanical advantage of winding the tail stock ram instead of pushing the bit, I cobbled a 'split collet' to hold the bit and fit into my Nova chuck. Then I put the lamp blank between tail center and bit and fed the blank into the spinning bit in increments of the tail ram's travel.

A little tedious, but winding the tail ram was easy on my arms & shoulders. As usual, I did things the wrong way, but it worked for me. Hope thiis helps or at least, doesn't hurt. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Hi Geoff

I can see a couple of ways of doing it, depending on,1) are you able to take out the tailstock ram, if yes, than you could turn a fitting wooden shouldered dowel with a large enough hole in it to push your auger through and insert that in your tailstock.

2) if not you can build a bowl or spindle steady with or without a fitting collar to feed your auger through. 3) or hold/feed the auger through the headstock and hold the lamp in the tailstock, again with fitting collars 4) if possible have a hole drilled through the tailstock ram. And 5) buy a lathe with a hollow tailstock ram, if you need an excuse to get another lathe.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

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Arch, He doesn't have the hollow tail ram that you do, so it will have to be something either between the tailstock and his lamp base or something without the tailstock at all. Maybe a fabricated tailstock replacement to facilitate feeding a drill through to the base, or a steady rest in front of the tailstock to guide the drill chucked in the tailstock. Haven't done it, but that's the ways I'd try.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

wrote: (clip) 2) if not you can build a bowl or spindle steady with or without a fitting collar to feed your auger through. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This sounds like the best idea. Build a wooden tailstock-like thing that attaches to the ways. You need an on-axis hole through it for feeding the auger. So, drive the auger from the headstock, and force the "tailstock-like thing" onto it. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 3) or hold/feed the auger through the headstock and hold the lamp in the tailstock,(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you are driving the auger from the headstock, and holding the lamp in the tailstock, you need a long enough lathe to mount all this. That could be a problem. If you are feeding the auger through the headstock, it will be tricky to drive it at the same time. (Either the lamp or the auger has to be rotating, doncha see?)

Hi other Leo

Yes of course Leo, you would have to hold the lamp non rotating in the tail stock, you would have to hold the auger turning in the headstock and feed the lamp with the tail stock ram, backup, feed the auger, clamp and go, and backup, and etc., It was the 3th on my list for a reason Then again #5 wood be my preferred way to go.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

wrote: (clip) you would have to hold the auger turning in the headstock and feed the lamp with the tail stock ram, backup, feed the auger, clamp and go, and backup, and etc., ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Thanks--I see now. I was hung up on the thought that the auger might not fit through the headstock spindle. I remember now that threaded lamp pipe is often used for vacuum chucking, so, obviously, the auger should go through if it is not too much over size.

Ken, I realized that Geoff's tailstock ram is solid. I meant my first paragraph to explain why I didn't want to use a hollow tailstock. :)

Leo, first time I tried feeding the blank by winding the tail ram into the spinning bit I kept the blank from spinning with my belt. That was the infamous public dropping of my pants episode. :)

I used cheap 25" HF twist drill bits and mostly drilled thru the soft pith of N.I. pine logs, then turned the lamp usig the holes as centers. A shop made long D-bit would be better for harder stock.

Geoff could drill a hole thru a bar held in his banjo as a bearing collar for a long bit on center and driven by a hand drill. However, the poor guy asked for a simple way to make a hollow tailstock. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

I hav never done this, but I have noticed that of the long drillbits, Harbor Freight is $50.

Any commnents on the cheap vs. the pricey solutions?

Hi Bruce

For deep holes I weld a rod to the drill, works for me.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

well thanks for the responce guys - just so you know what you are dealing with i have a link to a photo of similar -

firstly i should have said that i was hoping to use a lamp auger and hollow tail centre (long hole boring kit) and that the hole cold be in excess of 1 metre. 1. the lathe is simply a fantastic piece of engineering and apart from a vb i dont know what would i would ever change it for - so changing the lathe is not an option. 2. the headstock is probably 50cm wide so feeding through the headstock and then another 50cm would be exceesive. 3. i dont think that any real engineering will be required - since i dont have the gear it would be expensive and i could probably cog something together from a hollow tailstock from a graduate if i could find one for about the same money. 4. im not very confident a bout drilling with excessive long bits held in the headstock towards a large piece in the tailstock. 5. i was thinking of gripping the hollow centre woth my banjo - driving it in and securing. but it need constant tightening to stop the whole thing coming off.

1. so far i like the idea from leo - if i have picked it up right - take out the barrel of the tailstock (and providing i can remove the back end which i will have to check) replace the barrel with a turned piece with tapered hole to fit hollow tail centre. i can then adjust position etc. all depends on the back of tailstock - not fussed on drilling it out -

keep the ideas coming and thanks for your help

If you take the fixed "steady" option versus having to adjust your steady device in the banjo, the procedure would begin with boring a hole through the "steady" using a short, controllable bit in the headstock or chuck, assuring proper height and alignment. I use nylon for the bushing, but something as simple as a PVC pipe cap might work if you were careful of temperature and lube.

Now you hold your lamp in a chuck, use your "steady" close as you are able while still allowing the chips to fall and bore with a bit chucked in your tailstock. Won't do a full meter, but will do a credible job on shorter stuff.

If required, I'd go with one of the machine-made drill extenders, personally. Lousy welder.

Hi Geoff

If thats is the lathe you have, congratulations, looks like a solid industrial grade machine.

Now reading that you want to drill maybe in excess of 1 meter, and it looks like you have plenty of bed length, and if that lathe was mine and I was going to do this, with the understanding that you don't have metalworking machines, then I would build first a steady to hold the ends of the lamp post, (1 m long post will not stay centered) how big you want to go depends on what else you want to use it for (vases,hollow turnings etc.)

Then I would take the tail stock apart and measure, then turn and bore a cylinder with a shoulder on one end that would fit your tail stock and if needed you can fasten it to the tail stock, so now you can push a drill right through the tail stock and drill your lamp post, does this make sense to you ?? Hope that the auger drills straight, that is very often the biggest problem drilling deep holes

As for you not being very keen on drilling the tail stock ram, well the size of the lathe and its parts would suggest that there is enough material there, however, I can not be sure of that from just looking at a picture and there could be internal reasons for not being able to do it, though I would be surprised if that was the case, it is up to you to determine that after you have taken it apart. But if you could have someone drill a 7/16" or 1/2" hole through the ram you would never have to go through all the trouble of taking the tail stock apart and etc., and it makes taking out centers drill chucks and drilling long holes a lot simpler.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

thnaks leo - thats is roughly what i have in mind now - i'll let you know how i get on...