Calibrating Jet Mini

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TowMater

TowMater

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Joined
Nov 9, 2007
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Location
Kansas City, MO, USA.
I was in the shop turning a Panache this morning and noticed a problem with the tailstock end of the piece I was turning.

I am turning B2B so I know it's not the mandrel. It would appear that I am out of alignment on my tailstock as the headstock end of the pen is turned perfectly to the bushing.

The tailstock end seems to have a wobble turn to it. On one side of the bushing I am about 1/64" inside the bushing and the other is 1/64" out side the bushing (WAG at the measurement, but it's noticeable). The other quadrents are turned to the bushing level.

By eyeball when I put the Deadcenter and Livecenter point to point I don't see any problems.

I'm fairly new to turning and have pretty much reached my technical limit with troubleshooting this problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

Todd
 
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I had the same problem, but it only appears when I use a mandrel. I switched to turning between centers, the issues went away. I also replaced the stock live center with a better one, which helped.
 
Have you checked to see if the tail and head stock line up?

Use a live and a dead center and pull the tail up to the head stock and see if the points touch, if not you have issues, if so it is probably your mandrel.
 
I had same problem, tailstock on side away from front of lathe was off just a hair. I put a bead of super glue on base of tailstock that rubs the inside edge of the rail, probably won't last forever, but now I'm able to turn round and true. Couldn't believe how little it was off and the difference it made to align the headstock and tailstock "perfectly". It was such a little amount of glue that I used a spatula to get it super thin, now no play in tailstock.
 
Originally posted by turned_for_good

Have you checked to see if the tail and head stock line up?

Use a live and a dead center and pull the tail up to the head stock and see if the points touch, if not you have issues, if so it is probably your mandrel.
Click to expand...

Some folks don't even read your post before they start given advice round here.[:p].
 
It might not be the lathe at all. Among other things, it might be the bushings. Do they fit the pen tube snugly or are they a little loose?

Is this problem happening with other kits as well or just with the Panache kit??
 
If you'd like to confirm or eliminate the bushings as the problem, reverse them headstock to tailstock and turn another piece. If the out-of-round, follows the bushing to the headstock it's the bushings, if it stays at the tailstock, then it isn't. If it stays at the tailstock, you may have a small wobble or eccentricity at the live center.
 
I had the same problem & tried a second mandrel, still the same thing. Then noticed the center point on the live center was not centering in the end of the mandrel. I drilled the mandrel a little deeper so the center pin would go down in the mandrel far enough to center itself on the shoulders of the recess. No more problems.
 
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