Boice and Crane Tailstock help

What's worn, about the tailstock, the bearings, the spur(s), the clamp mech anism(s) to the bed? If it's bulk metal that is worn, maybe building up th e worn area with welding beads, then grinding/filing to spec, can be done e asy enough.

You may have to find another one and cannibalize the parts you need. A Goo gle search should turn up a few auctions or sales with some listed, like th is one in Raliegh, NC -

Every now and then, there's a Boyce Crane lathe listed here - http://irsauc tions.com/?flash=9

And here -

Just have to wait for one of these auctions/sales to be near you.

Any new tailstock should work fine with any headstock. They are, essential ly, separate units. A new tailstock would need to have a footprint to matc h your present bed's track. Have you tried to find a quality tailstock, wi thout its bed tracking part, yet it can be attached/fitted onto a range of tailstock tracks? I kinna doubt there would be a general/generic unit as t hat, though.

Your local turning club should have lots of magazines that may have guides for searching for those older parts. Find a chapter near you - http://www .woodturner.org/ and ask on this site's forum.

Sonny

this one in Raliegh, NC -

Sorry. That auction/sale has ended, but that site has similar listings, now and then.

Sonny

Pretty much been checking around for a year now. I am in the Boston area and I am guessing I am down to a machinist or whatever tradesman that could do this. Also checking around this is a problem of this lathe. I got many years out of it. But not the person to do this kind of repair. If there is such a thing as rebuilding this it should get me by the rest of my days. I think it was about 45 years ago I bought it. I would imagine something similar would be in the $3000 to $4000 range easy. Thanks for all the info and ideas.

Can you be more specific? I am/was a Machine Tool Rebuilder in another life and I know people that can help you if I can't. There's more to it if you have serious wear on the bottom of the tailstock.

RP

It no longer lines up with the other side and the shaft is very loose. Not sure how else to explain it. I know everything used to be tight and was right on center.

Thanks, I am familar with them. Have lots of old Walker Turner and I turn to them for info. Really nice for that. I didn't see anything for my problem. But maybe should go back and recheck.

Just reread. Not sure about bottom wear but will look tomorrow. I did a lot of faceplate turning. But then it's been in use for many years.

Bearing or bushings would be my first guess, if the shaft is loose.

May be a silly idea.... has the bed, the tailstock is on, misaligned or loosened, somehow, to make it out of alignment with the headstock? I suppose you've checked and rechecked everywhere, that way.

Sonny

That would be too easy. My 90 year old father is always down the shop messing with things. Everything has to be perfect with him. Which is fine with me as it saves me a lot of time. SOme of my machines he had before me, they run like the day they got here. He wanted me to get a new tailstock but I had to tell him this particular one is very rare as this is a problem with this particular lathe. I don't want to end up with another bad one if I could find one. If I could get it rebuilt and get another 30 years out if it, assuming I will stlil be here even though I am retired I would be very happy.

I don't see how any bearing could be in there. If there are bushings I really can't see that either. It just looks like the tailstock we bored and the shaft is inserted, it does have a notch on one side. I had been looking for a machinist but from the other posting I should be looking for a toolmaker. Back to google.

If that's the case you just need to have the barrel bored and have a new quill made. Not inexpensive, but cheaper than a whole new tailstock which might not be available. I don't know what happened to my post yesterday. I think Google &^%$ed it up.

RP

I expected it was going to cost.. Big problem is find someone to do the job. I call a few places every week and they don't do this kind of work here in the Boston area. Or I haven't called the right place yet.

My lathe tailstock quill will also wiggle a tiny bit until the quill lock is engaged, then it is rock steady. If yours still moves when locked, maybe the lock needs work. Or in desperation you could drill and tap a hole in the side of the quill holder so that a bolt would impinge on the mid-portion of the quill. Make sure the end of the bolt is smooth and do not over-tighten. This should hold the quill against the other side of the cavity and prevent quill play. If this works, weld a handle to the bolt and use it as the quill lock.

Alignment. Mine has two metal blocks on the bottom of the tailstock which slide in the slot of the ways. The blocks are held by two capscrews each. To adjust alignment the cap screws are slightly loosened and the tailstock is tapped with a mallet to correct the mis-alignment. Yours may not have this feature but it is worth checking. When setting alignment you should check with the quill fully retracted and locked, half extended and locked and then fully extended and locked. The tailstock mis alignment may be due to sideways shift or rotational shift. Checking in three quill positions should tell you which it is.

Hope this helps a little.

You can also use the capscrews to align you tailstock by simply loosening t he side you need to go to and tighten the other side.This is good for movin g in .001's of and inch and smaller if you have the proper indicator.

RP

A correction: The hole drilled should be about 1 1/2 inches from the headstock end of the quill holder. Otherwise you could not extend and hold the quill more than half extended. But I still think the existing quill lock should be checked first.

That's very good advice. My drill press has the same to tighten up the quill for the same reason. My old drill press had the same.

Thanks, those seem like really cool ideas. My brain was not thinking that way.