Looking for a lathe accessory .....

[Grant Wilkinson]

Steve: I'm glad that you took it that way. I was not out to shoot anyone down. It was easy for me to offer this advice, since I learned it the hard way. Some time ago, I wanted some assurance that the jacobs in my tailstock would not pull out when I was backing the bit out of the handle I was drilling. I accurately measured the distance from the end of the taper to the end of my handwheel and cut a piece of threaded rod for the drawbar. I put everything together and was quite pleased with my self for this simple, elegant solution. Doh!!!

[Don Orr]

I think I'm confused here Tim. It sounds like you are using your tailstock to hold a Jacobs style drill chuck to drill into something mounted on your headstock. Is this correct? If it is, then this is a very standard procedure using a drill chuck with attached Morse taper arbor which mounts into your tailstock taper and stays put through friction. As you drill the tapers get tighter and prevents the drill from spinning in the taper socket. I'm sure you know all this already. The trouble comes when you are withdrawing the drill from the hole which is now working against the friction of the Morse taper and can come loose and spin and cause damage to either part of the taper-male or female. Holding the chuck as you withdraw it is normal to prevent this from happening. The tailstock adapter which holds your scrollchucks is also a Morse taper friction fit which is only meant for alignment and centering a piece for finishing the bottom of the object being held in the chuck. Holding a drill chuck on a Morse taper scroll chuck adapter is the same as just mounting the standard Morse taper drill chuck in the tailstock and will have the same issues when withdrawing the drill from your workpiece. Does any of this make sense or am I way off base here with my understanding of your question ? Also remember to drill a short way into your workpiece and back out to clear chips or the drill will bind and make it difficult to back out at all which will just cause your drill chuck to come loose from the tailstock taper socket. I use machinist bits often which are solid steel drill bits with an integral Morse taper and have to hold them while withdrawing or the spin. If your tapers are very good fits then sometimes you don't have to hold the drills while backing out of the hole but it is still a good idea.

Hope this helps.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Grant - I thought it was hilarious! So much for considering myself an expert on anything! I love it!