9" Tailstock extension mod

[Halligan142]

A long time ago there were a couple threads on a forum about a guy who worked out a plan to extend the tailstock quill of a 10" lathe, but no longer does it. He made the whole new quill from scratch. He then offered a service to extend the existing quills of a 10" and 9" lathe. After completing a few projects that could have benefited from a little more travel in the tailstock , I put the mod on my list of things to do. Now with everything that's going on I have some shop time and can cross some of those things off. As far as I know he didn't give complete details on how he did it, but based on a few of the pictures from the 10" build he posted I've worked out a way to modify both the existing quill and the existing screw. Basically grafting a new "extension nut" to the original quill, grafting in a new longer feed screw to the original handwheel section of the screw, and adding an extension piece to the tailstock barrel. The only thing that would be hard to accomplish on the lathe as you're modifying it is installing the new screw into the handwheel portion of the old screw. This requires you to cut and drill into your existing screw. The way I did it was with a mill, but it can be done on a second lathe. The only way I can think of doing it on the lathe you're modifying id to make a complete new screw handwheel portion and all from scratch. I made a series of videos of it on youtube and there is a link in the description of those videos to dimensioned drawings.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

 

[SLK001]

I believe that you're referring to member jockofthelowveld over on the PM site. He did a full write-up of extending the range of a Heavy 10 tailstock in this thread. You should be able to adapt his techniques for a 9" lathe.

 

[WCraig]

@Halligan142 Thanks very much for your video series and prints. Among the nearly infinite list of projects I'd like to do, I'd like to see if this could be adapted to my tiny Atlas 618. Even 1 extra inch of travel would be welcome.

Thanks again,

Craig

 

[silverhawk]

Is this THAT halligan142? I am so in awe. This site is an amazing resource! Such incredible talent around here. I still miss much of the talent that has moved on. But, wow.

joe

 

[Halligan142]

Is this THAT halligan142? I am so in awe. This site is an amazing resource! Such incredible talent around here. I still miss much of the talent that has moved on. But, wow.

joe

Thanks for the compliment! I am by no means anything special. I am not a machinist and don't pretend to be. I've just plugged away in my home shop messing things up until I got them right.