Grizzly tailstock too high

W

woodbutcher

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I purchased the Grizzly GO509G gunsmithing lathe about a month ago. I have not done any work with it yet because of other projects I had going. I got it leveled with a precision level and was doing some final tuning yesterday when I noticed the tailstock was about .004 high. The operations manual says it is tuned to about .006 high. I think this is a typo because there is no way you are going to cam down .006. In a promotional ad it says it is tuned to within .001, which is more reasonable. I called Grizzly tech Friday morn, but have not got a response yet. Has anyone experienced this problem and what did you do about it. I have never tried to scrape anything into tolerance so I do not think this is a good option. I do not have a surface grinder in house. I would prefer to do in the shop so I could sneak up on the final dimension.
 
I circumscribed a dead center with a tenth indicator attached to the chuck.
 
I'm sure that it was torqued at this time? This may sound stupid, but I have to ask. Did your indicator read .004 on the top and .000 on the bottom?
Butch
 
They recommend no more than 40 ft. lbs. torque and this is far as I went. I could get about .001 movement at this torque. There was .004 difference in the reading from top to bottom. The indicator was the same from near side to far side. I see where you are going with this question as you would need only .002 change to make the readings the same: nevertheless unachievable.
 
What are you going to use the lathe for that the tailstock being out that amount would hurt?

Most all lathes come from the factory with the tailstock a couple of thousands high to allow for wear.
 
Jerry, I have three lathes at present and everything in the past was done with a bald eagle floating reamer holder. When I bought this lathe I thought I would try Greg Tannel's reamer pusher for hands free operation. This lathe is supposed to be easily dialed in for this operation and also the lathe has zero wear so I thought why not. I watched Gordy Gritters video using this lathe and he used this same reamer pusher with good success. Mike Davis who lives not far from here uses this method with great success also. A lot of ways to skin a cat; just wanted to experiment. I will be taper boring prior to reaming.
 
Woodbutcher, I am curious. How did you mount the tenth indicator when you circumscribed the dead center in the tail stock? Was the indicator held by a pin in the jaws of the chuck or did you surface mount it to the face of the chuck with a magnetic base?
 
woodbutcher said:
Jerry, I have three lathes at present and everything in the past was done with a bald eagle floating reamer holder. When I bought this lathe I thought I would try Greg Tannel's reamer pusher for hands free operation. This lathe is supposed to be easily dialed in for this operation and also the lathe has zero wear so I thought why not. I watched Gordy Gritters video using this lathe and he used this same reamer pusher with good success. Mike Davis who lives not far from here uses this method with great success also. A lot of ways to skin a cat; just wanted to experiment. I will be taper boring prior to reaming.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me. So you are going to just let the muzzle bore point wherever it comes out??? And, why taper bore? The reamer will follow a bored hole, whether it is straight or tapered.
 
Doc, I took a piece of 1 1/2 inch pipe about three inches long and I welded a 3/8 pc. of rod to the outside with a hole bored in it to accept the indicator. The rod was precisely lined up before welding. The pipe is mounted in a three, four or six jaw; run out is irrelevant since it will be carried all the way around. The indicator ball was aligned with the point of the dead center before it was moved. I did mount the indicator holder to a turned pc. of stock and the results were the same.
Jerry, I have always lined up the muzzle end with a indicator in the bore. I might experiment and let the outboard end run wild. I have never taper bored, but just wanted to try it.
 
Sounds like you understand what's happening and going the right way. I taper bore and let the reamer follow the taper bore rather than the bushing. I use a loose fitting bushing.
Everybody has their own ideas of how to do this and we have hashed it over many times. I do not claim my way is the best or only way. In my mind it is best. If somebody can convince me that there is a better way, I will do it. I do use a home made pusher.
Butch
 
Did you notice in the video that they have a "dial slide" between the tail stock and reamer holder? Tells me they had problems with the tail stock being square with the head.
 
Lathes are traditionally built with the tailstocks a little high and as they are used they wear past a useful range.
 
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