What am I doing wrong?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bonnie....It's not even 0600 here in the Pacific Time Zone and I'm on just my first cup of coffee...so no photos yet..........

On the end of my drill chuck is a #2 morse taper.....a tapered shaft that goes into the quill on your tail stock or can be inserted into the headstock. In the end of the #2 morse taper is a threaded hole. When I mount the drill chuck into the headstock and use it to hold the mandrel that I use to turn bottle stoppers, I take a long 1/4"x20 bolt that has a wing nut and washer on it. I run the bolt through the hole in the headstock and it screws into hole in the end of the #2 morse taper in the drill chuck. I then run the wingnut and washer up against the handle I use to manually turn the drive shaft of the headstock and very slightly tighten it. This captures the drill chuck to the drive shaft and prevents it from coming out while turning whatever is in the the drill chuck...in this case my b/s mandrel.....

You don't want to use the bolt when you put the drill chuck into the quill on your tailstock because as your run the drill bit out and into the wood, the quill shaft is lengthening.

Photos to follow after I get some coffee, some breakfast and some laundry started.

[Jerry Allen]

Bonnie,
The tailstock on your TurnCrafter Pro looks very similar to the Jet Mini.
If it is the same there is a good possibilty that that taper part on the chuck is bottoming out before the Morse taper can engage.
Set the chuck side by side with your normal tail center and see if the tapered part from the back of the chuck is longer than the same part of the normal center. If so, your will probably have to cut about 7/16" off the chuck in order for it to work properly. You can use a hacksaw or metal cuttoff blade in an angle grinder, then clean the end up and bevel the rear edge .03" with a file or belt sander.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Okay Bonnie....here's some photos.

The first photo shows my entire drill chuck assembly. Mounted in it is one of my bottle stopper mandrels. You'll notice the long screw is screwed into a hole in the end of the #2 morse taper. This allows you to secure the morse taper to the spindle of the headstock by passing the screw through the hole in the spindle and threading it into the #2 morse taper. Then you lightly tighten the wingnut and washer up against the handle and lock the assembly to the spindle. Thus as the drive spindle rotates the drill chuck can't spin out. Like yours, my drill chuck didn't come with any directions. I tried to turn 1 and only 1 b/s without this screw. I got tired of having a moving target for my tools and finally figured out why they put a threaded hole in the end of the morse taper.

The last photo shows the drill chuck in the tailstock. As someone else mentioned and as I show in the photo, my tailstock self-ejects any morse taper when the shaft of the quill is at or less than 1/2" extended. If you insert a tool (in this case the drill chuck) with less than 1/2" of the quill extended, the morse taper will not seat properly. So...when I drill something on the lathe or if I want to support something with a live center or dead center, I make sure that at least 1/2" of the quill is extended so that the morse taper will be seated properly. Otherwise, your live center won't be seated properly and an won't necessarily be at the correct center as the morse taper can wobble. This could produce some non-repetitive, non-concentric turnings....by accident.

You could use the screw, wingnut and washer with the drill chuck in the tailstock quill but you wouldn't really find it easy to use and there is really no reason to.....Make sure your quill is extended say...1".....insert the drill chuck and make sure the morse taper seats properly......Unlock the tailstock and slide it towards the headstock until your drill bit is nearly touching the wood.......Lock the tailstock and turn the handle of the tailstock quill drilling your hole. If you need to drill a hole deeper than the travel of the quill will allow and yet, your drill bit is long enough.....retract your quill until you have 1" of the quill shaft extended.....stop your drive motor......unlock the tailstock and move it towards the wood......moving the bit into the wood but NOT bottoming out in the previously drilled hole.......lock the tail stock...turn the lathe back on........turn the quill handle and finish drilling your hole.......


Hopefully you'll find the photos handy....

Good luck Bonnie!



Here's the entire assembly

as1.JPG

Here's the drill chuck inserted into the drive spindle of the headstock
as2.JPG

Here's the screw inserted through the handle on the headstock ...the threads engaged into the morse taper on the drill chuck and the wingnut lightly tightened against the washer and spindle handle to prevent the drill chuck from spinning out under motion.
as3.JPG

Here's the drill chuck inserted into the tailstock quill and the quill extended about 3/4" to insure the morse taper is properly seated.
as4.JPG

[Bonnie Campbell]

That is such a BIG help having pictures

I did go into the shop this morning. But was so excited about turning the pen I forgot to check my chuck Then popped a tendon in my knee coming upstairs, so guess I'll have to see if hubby will run get the chuck for me to look over good.

The taper fits fine in the quill stock as long as it is extended a bit. So I don't think there was a problem with that area. It was my not locking down the tool rest. I just assumed you were supposed to be able to slide the whole works into the drilling. Shows where 'thinking' got me lol

I really appreciate all the help Ken and everyone else has been. I belong to other forums that I could spend a week waiting for a reply to a question. And then hope they were even bothering trying to help. Y'all are great!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Glad to be of help Bonnie......Now I'm going for another cup of coffee...a sausage sandwich and turn a acrylic Marine Corps bottle stopper for a very special friend of mine. I haven't seen my lathe in 2 weeks this past Tuesday.

This afternoon I have to return to work.....2 more years....