A little over 6 months ago, I go my dad's old LA200 lathe back after it had passed through some other owners.
It was in bad shape, but I put some time into it, replaced bearings, 3D printed a couple of missing parts, and got it running again. I've probably made upwards of 100 pens/pencils on it since then.
Thing is, even when brand new and not "kinda banged up but fixed and working", the tailstock on this model had pretty pitiful quill travel distance. Something like 2" on a good day.
Were there ever any aftermarket tailstock assemblies made for this lathe? Were later Delta midi lathe models (like the 46-250 or similar) backwards-compatible? Are there any standards for lathe ways gap size and tailstock height to center that would make it possible to use a non-Delta tailstock assembly on this lathe without needing to modify it to keep the centers aligned vertically?
I'd love to upgrade this lathe specifically in terms of tailstock quill travel, since I use my lathe to do all my blank drilling, and it takes forever and necessitates several "resets" of the tailstock position on the lathe bed to drill anything much longer than a slimline in its current state.
It was in bad shape, but I put some time into it, replaced bearings, 3D printed a couple of missing parts, and got it running again. I've probably made upwards of 100 pens/pencils on it since then.
Thing is, even when brand new and not "kinda banged up but fixed and working", the tailstock on this model had pretty pitiful quill travel distance. Something like 2" on a good day.
Were there ever any aftermarket tailstock assemblies made for this lathe? Were later Delta midi lathe models (like the 46-250 or similar) backwards-compatible? Are there any standards for lathe ways gap size and tailstock height to center that would make it possible to use a non-Delta tailstock assembly on this lathe without needing to modify it to keep the centers aligned vertically?
I'd love to upgrade this lathe specifically in terms of tailstock quill travel, since I use my lathe to do all my blank drilling, and it takes forever and necessitates several "resets" of the tailstock position on the lathe bed to drill anything much longer than a slimline in its current state.