TAILSTOCK CAM LOCK

**LMMasterMariner** · Apr 27, 2017, 03:42 PM

Captain’s Lathe 3rd Mod

Hi everyone

This is 3rd modification of my lathe (11 x 26, bigger brother of Grizzly G0602).

As almost every lathe which I used on board ships had cam lock tailstock;
either longitudinal or transversal cam lock, I decided to make cam lock for my lathe tailstock.
Little bit more complicated than those already seen on web, but at the same time more heavy ‘dtuy’.
I like it to be oversized. Piston diameter is 24 mm and frame bolt diameter is 40 mm and it’s 40 mm high.
Shaft diameter is 16 mm and at cam spot it’s 10 mm in diameter. All parts are oversized.
Also added support on handle side of the tailstock. No modification was done to sliding plate underneath of ways, nor spring was added to it, as it wasn’t necessary. There is absolutely no slipping of tailstock under heavy loads; when drilling and supporting work piece with live center. Must say that I am very happy with this mod and I still wonder why I didn’t make it earlier.

Picture 01
Milled hole in tailstock with 16 mm end mill. (drilled it first)

Pictures 02 and 03
Milled bottom and top of oval shaped cavity in order to install frame block.
Had to remove coating and some cast iron in order to have flat bottom and enough room on top.

Picture 04
Milled piston hole with 16 mm end mill.

Picture 05
Also had to remove some material at frame block (piston housing) in order to fit inside cavity.

Picture 06
Parts. All made from stainless steel except snap ring and chrome plated handle
which was ordered from Taobao. (one size bigger than one used as tool post handle)

Picture 07
Parts assembled on top of milling vise (locked position)

Picture 08
Front view of tailstock (locked position – piston up)

Picture 09
Front view of tailstock (unlocked position – piston down) Note that handle can not go more down as the bottom of the piston is already touching the tailstock.

Picture 10
Observe 4.5 mm gap and sloped part where shaft is passing through. I still think that whoever designed this tailstock did it intentionally just in order to turn away people from making this modification and to make it harder.

Picture 11
Back view. It is visible that piece of 3 mm flat bar is placed at the place of the gap. Also put 2 washers there. Didn’t have flat bar of 4.5 mm thickness and I was too lazy to fabricate it.

Picture 12
Drawing with exact dimensions

Picture 13
Cam Lock in use - locked position

Hope that this info will help someone to make this mod.

LMMasterMariner

**DIYer** · Apr 28, 2017, 06:55 AM

Thanks LMMasterMariner! We've added your Tailstock Cam Lock to our Lathe Accessories category,
as well as to your builder page: LMMasterMariner's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Tailstock Cam Lock by LMMasterMariner

tags: locking, tailstock

**Ralphxyz** · Apr 28, 2017, 01:55 PM

Thanks, definitely on my must do list!!
Ralph

**C-Bag** · Apr 28, 2017, 02:31 PM

Very nicely done LMMM. Very heavy duty and beautiful finish.

I did the same to my 9x20, but I cheated and used the kit LittleMachineShop sells for the smaller lathe 7x's. I also didn't put the nice outboard bearing, just figured the cast iron would be good enough and was using the eccentric shaft that came with the kit and it wasn't that long. Also cheated on the handle and used one off my mill/drill that I don't use anyway. I had to mill more off the tailstock casting than you did but it works fine and is way better than having to use a wrench!

**LMMasterMariner** · Apr 29, 2017, 07:32 AM

Hello C-Bag,
Thanks for your comments, especially the last sentence; no more wrench using. I tried first without outboard bearing and it worked, but I already fabricated all parts on board my ship and brought it home. A lot of free time and lot of free of charge materials there. That's why I turned outboard bearing from stainless steel round bar of 70 mm diameter. When I was making it, I was sure that back of tailstock is flat like on some 9 x 20 lathes and that it would be very simple to install. Once arrived home there was big surprise and this is the reason for additional steel plate.
Best regards
LMMM

**Tule** · Apr 29, 2017, 07:37 AM

Very nice done, I just put it on my to do list. Thanks!

**LMMasterMariner** · Apr 29, 2017, 07:47 AM

Hello DIYer,

Thanks.

I have just checked my builder page: LMMasterMariner's Homemade Tools and observed that
my reverse tumbler [http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/c...tumbler-57855]
is not mentioned there.

Best regards
LMMM

**C-Bag** · Apr 29, 2017, 09:49 AM

LMMM, " A lot of free time and lot of free of charge materials there."

Very jealous of that. I see a lot of projects here on HMT with big chunks of steel, stainless and whatnot and remember to my last wage slave job where there was literally tons of what they would call scrap. Just perfect for projects. The thing I miss most was the buckets of fastener hardware laying around from cleaning the floor. Whenever I had spare time I built stuff to help do my job as a fabricator/millwright but left all that when I quit.