Tailstock extension

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sehast
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by sehast »

Longer tubes is not a bad idea if you can live with a longer Shopsmith for everything else. I replaced my stock tubes with thicker walled way tubes and in the case of the bench tubes solid steel precision ground tubes. The price I paid to online metal venders was less than replacement stock tubes from Shopsmith and the quality was outstanding. So longer tubes are a possibility and you should have no worries about the structural stability.
RFGuy
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by RFGuy »

sehast wrote:Longer tubes is not a bad idea if you can live with a longer Shopsmith for everything else. I replaced my stock tubes with thicker walled way tubes and in the case of the bench tubes solid steel precision ground tubes. The price I paid to online metal venders was less than replacement stock tubes from Shopsmith and the quality was outstanding. So longer tubes are a possibility and you should have no worries about the structural stability.
Thanks. Yeah, I thought about thicker walled tubes for my Shopsmith after reading a past forum thread on DOM tubing. My thought was to add a bit more weight and rigidity for woodturning. Is this why you did it for your Shopsmith or another reason? Why not use the same tubing for both waytybes and bench tubes? Cost? Do you still have the vendor names and part numbers that you ordered from online?
📶RF Guy

Mark V 520 (Bought New '98) | 4" jointer | 6" beltsander | 12" planer | bandsaw | router table | speed reducer | univ. tool rest
Porter Cable 12" Compound Miter Saw | Rikon 8" Low Speed Bench Grinder w/CBN wheels | Jessem Clear-Cut TS™ Stock Guides
Festool (Emerald): DF 500 Q | RO 150 FEQ | OF 1400 EQ | TS 55 REQ | CT 26 E
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sehast
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by sehast »

My reason was to provide more heft for the table saw function and to gain a long lasting setup for my tables and fence. Before it seemed like I was always aligning stuff. I first started with solid precision ground steel connector rods and after they worked so well I got the bench and way tubes also. I was upgrading from original Greenie bases to the double tilt so I had to get different tubes anyway. I went with the 1/4" walled tubes for the way tubes because I thought it would get too heavy to lift to the drill press position. That was a mistake because I also eventually got a lift assist and the solid steel tubes would have been no problem. After all the work I think it made a big difference. It added about 100 pounds to the Shopsmith and I have not had to do any alignments since. When I set up in the table saw mode I can depend on the fence, blade and miter slots to be aligned whether the fence is on the main table or one of the floating or end tables. And the connector rods always align with the 2 end tables I have on both sides of the main table, something I never was able to do before. Stability is great. I balanced a dime and a nickle on the main table and started to run the motor up from 500 RPM. The dime fell over when I got to 3,000 RPM and the nickle was still standing at 10,000 RPM.
RFGuy
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by RFGuy »

sehast wrote:My reason was to provide more heft for the table saw function and to gain a long lasting setup for my tables and fence. Before it seemed like I was always aligning stuff. I first started with solid precision ground steel connector rods and after they worked so well I got the bench and way tubes also. I was upgrading from original Greenie bases to the double tilt so I had to get different tubes anyway. I went with the 1/4" walled tubes for the way tubes because I thought it would get too heavy to lift to the drill press position. That was a mistake because I also eventually got a lift assist and the solid steel tubes would have been no problem. After all the work I think it made a big difference. It added about 100 pounds to the Shopsmith and I have not had to do any alignments since. When I set up in the table saw mode I can depend on the fence, blade and miter slots to be aligned whether the fence is on the main table or one of the floating or end tables. And the connector rods always align with the 2 end tables I have on both sides of the main table, something I never was able to do before. Stability is great. I balanced a dime and a nickle on the main table and started to run the motor up from 500 RPM. The dime fell over when I got to 3,000 RPM and the nickle was still standing at 10,000 RPM.
Thanks. I found your post (https://shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maintena ... 0-s10.html) from 2017 where you talked about the solid connector tubes. I guess I would have thought over the short distance these are used that a hollow tube would have been rigid enough for connecting main table to aux table, but if your alignment improved after upgrading to these, I should consider it. For the waytubes, you say you got 1/4" thick tubing. Do you remember the supplier you got these from? Or does anyone else have recommended suppliers for thick wall tubing for way/bench tube replacements?
📶RF Guy

Mark V 520 (Bought New '98) | 4" jointer | 6" beltsander | 12" planer | bandsaw | router table | speed reducer | univ. tool rest
Porter Cable 12" Compound Miter Saw | Rikon 8" Low Speed Bench Grinder w/CBN wheels | Jessem Clear-Cut TS™ Stock Guides
Festool (Emerald): DF 500 Q | RO 150 FEQ | OF 1400 EQ | TS 55 REQ | CT 26 E
DC3300 | Shopvac w/ClearVue CV06 Mini Cyclone | JDS AirTech 2000 | Sundstrom PAPR | Dylos DC1100 Pro particulate monitor
sehast
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Location: Milpitas, CA

Re: Tailstock extension

Post by sehast »

Here is the link.

https://www.metalsdepot.com/cold-finish ... l-shafting

If I had it to do over again I would use these for all the tubes: Connector, Way and Bench. I got the 1/4" walled (DOM I think) for the way tubes but the solid ground ones would have been better. I did change a lot of things all at once. The double tilt bases may have had a lot to do with my alignment improvement but I am very happy with the heavier Shopsmith overall.
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jsburger
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by jsburger »

RFGuy wrote:
sehast wrote:My reason was to provide more heft for the table saw function and to gain a long lasting setup for my tables and fence. Before it seemed like I was always aligning stuff. I first started with solid precision ground steel connector rods and after they worked so well I got the bench and way tubes also. I was upgrading from original Greenie bases to the double tilt so I had to get different tubes anyway. I went with the 1/4" walled tubes for the way tubes because I thought it would get too heavy to lift to the drill press position. That was a mistake because I also eventually got a lift assist and the solid steel tubes would have been no problem. After all the work I think it made a big difference. It added about 100 pounds to the Shopsmith and I have not had to do any alignments since. When I set up in the table saw mode I can depend on the fence, blade and miter slots to be aligned whether the fence is on the main table or one of the floating or end tables. And the connector rods always align with the 2 end tables I have on both sides of the main table, something I never was able to do before. Stability is great. I balanced a dime and a nickle on the main table and started to run the motor up from 500 RPM. The dime fell over when I got to 3,000 RPM and the nickle was still standing at 10,000 RPM.
Thanks. I found your post (https://shopsmith.com/ss_forum/maintena ... 0-s10.html) from 2017 where you talked about the solid connector tubes. I guess I would have thought over the short distance these are used that a hollow tube would have been rigid enough for connecting main table to aux table, but if your alignment improved after upgrading to these, I should consider it. For the waytubes, you say you got 1/4" thick tubing. Do you remember the supplier you got these from? Or does anyone else have recommended suppliers for thick wall tubing for way/bench tube replacements?
I have thick wall 10ER tubes on my dedicated drill press and I also have them as way tubes on my full sized Power Pro MK 7. They come up on eBay fairly regularly. I haven't checked prices but they may be cheaper than buying new. I did buy a set of thick wall SS 5' connector tubes from Metals Depot. They are dead straight and make a big difference.
John & Mary Burger
Eagle's Lair Woodshop
Hooper, UT
gpuckett
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by gpuckett »

After years of wanting to extend my lathe capacity my son finally gave me a reason to take this on. He has been turning his own baseball bats but is limited to 33-1/4” “ABSOLUTE MAX” end to end no waste with dead center ONLY! Our first attempt was the wall method, but quickly identified the many issues that would need to be resolved…stopped after 1st attempt. I then knew I had to design and build an integrated solution that he could quickly just “Drop-In” with little to no alignment(s). I can now turn a full 37” blank bat billet using a “LIVE CENTER”! My new capacity is 39-3/4”, but with very little modifications I can easily take it to 46-3/4”. This was more than he needed, but it’s obvious that I could’ve designed this longer if required.
Attachments
Extension plate with up-coming mods
Extension plate with up-coming mods
20200703_182421 (2).jpg (149.5 KiB) Viewed 9912 times
Full bat billet with room to spare
Full bat billet with room to spare
Tailstock Extension Plate 2.JPG (56.09 KiB) Viewed 9912 times
Using Laser to set Alignment
Using Laser to set Alignment
Tailstock Laser Alignment.JPG (51.5 KiB) Viewed 9912 times
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SkullsquadronX
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by SkullsquadronX »

Gpuckett
I like your Version of now to get some more lathe out of your Shopsmith.
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anmius
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Location: NC Mountains

Re: Tailstock extension

Post by anmius »

You could have anchored it to the wall instead of building a complex tailstock extension. Here is an example of what I think in extraordinary length.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQbzEz0-7X0
gpuckett
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Re: Tailstock extension

Post by gpuckett »

Like I said, that was my 1st brief attempt. In fact if you look at pic#2 you can see the wall mount that I made to accommodate the SS "Eccentric Mount" from the original tailstock. This gave me the ability to adjust my "Live Center" UP/DOWN & LEFT/RIGHT and initially it seemed like a very simple solution, but when you begin addressing all the different stabilization and safety problems it just didn't seem worth it. Bottom-line "small shop" need to move things around too much and we both like to move the SS outside on the driveway to enjoy the fresh air...which I get to do now!

It may appear complex, but not really. I used scrap cuts of aluminum, I'm a good CAD designer, I have access to a basic manual lathe machine to cut the metal. But... because I'm very anal with precision I wanted as tight tolerances with the "Tool Post" holes (1.2385" dia.) as I could get, so I took it to a small machine shop to get those holes CNC'ed for a couple hundred. I had it back in less than a day :)
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