Odd spindle & tail center alignment issues help!!

[Curt Fuller]

My Delta Midi also has a sloppy tailstock. The only one of your solutions that I could try off hand was the one where you stuck your left pinkie in your right ear. You must be a lot more limber than I am because when I tried it I just got a charliehorse in my neck and it didn't do squat for lining up the tailstock. I don't turn many pens but I use a pen mandrel to turn the body of the ornaments I make. I found that using this adjustable mandrel http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/st...t_mandrel?Args=
and only extending enough of the shaft to fit what I'm turning leaves less chance for it to be off center. I mount what I'm turning, slide the tailstock forward and give it a nudge until it's centered on the mandrel, lock it down, and extend the quill just enough to give light pressure against the mandrel. If you know what I mean. The adjustable mandrels just seem to be straighter and have less wobble than the cheaper ones.

Also, try to make cleaner cuts and do less sanding. Any time you're working on wood with the grain parallel to the lathe, as you sand you take wood off faster from the face side of the grain than the edge side of the grain resulting in an oblong shape.

[David Christopher]

Being out of round doesn't have anything to do with the tailstock not lining up.
Or, having your tailstock not lining up with the headstock, doesn't make the turning out of round.
I can take a precision metal lathe and move the tailstock over, it will make for a tapered turning as the tool moves in a straight line with the ways, doesn't make a oval or out of round turning though.
To get something to become oval or out of round, the turning or your tool has to move while turning, it is the only way for that to happen.

Leo is exactly right, I would check the bearings

[Brian Brown]

Leo is exactly right, I would check the bearings

Ok, this one is getting interesting. I hadn't thought of the bearings, because I check the headstock bearings occasionally, and they are fine. As for the tailstock, the Wood River 60 degree center I got recently has a bearing retaining ring that keeps coming out when I am turning. I just screw it back in when that happens. The bearings haven't come out, and I haven't checked the center when the retaining ring comes loose. Is this possibly the problem? If so, how do I fix it to keep the retaining ring from comming out? I thought of locktite, but I am afraid there is too much chance of getting it in the bearings. Any other ideas?

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Another source of out of round problem could be too much tailstock pressure on your mandrel, which causes it to flex. OR, if you have the mandrel that has setscrews and the shaft, don't bottom out the shaft, (much like not bottoming out a router bit) I THINK heat from turning can cause the mandrel shaft to expand enough to flex. Having the shaft not bottomed seemed to help that. Along with minimal tailstock pressure.

If your bearings are bad, I would imagine they would make noise.

[robert hainstock]

It could be as simple as too tight on the tail stock. This will often bend the mandrel which is long and skinny. A bent mandrel almost always shows up in out of round blanks at the tailstock end. It only has to support the mandrel, so I just snug it up lightly. Good Luck.
Bob

[Jeff Nicol]

Brian, If you put the mandrel and all the parts and bushings on into the headstock and rotate it slowly you should see no wobble at all. If there is wobble then either it is bent, not seated in the MT on the headstock, or to much pressure on the nut holding everything in place. On my old beater that I converted to VS the tailstock will move side to side about 1/16"! This is what is happening to you when it always ends up in a different spot. You can make a mark on the lathe when everything is lined up and make sure you hit that spot each time when turning pens or shim the tailstock clamping plate to get a truer fit. Hope all of our suggestions help!

JEff

[David E Keller]

Agree with the posters that your mandrel shaft could be the problem. I've gone to using the 'B' shaft from Arizona Silhouette when possible... It's a bit beefier. I make a ton of cigar pens and it's one of the kits for which larger bushings are available. Just like the bushings, mandrel shafts are probably only good for so many pens before they need to be exchanged. I usually buy the mandrels with removable shafts... I think it may save me a few bucks in the long run over having to replace the entire mandrel.