Harborfreight 8x12 Lathe - Tailstock Sticking

[mikedealer]

So yes i know this lathe is a piece of crap according to everyone in the world almost haha.. but i own one.. i have found every peice ive ever needed or wanted in a 1mt model no problem at all. for around $100 bucks with variable speed, i think its a fantastic fantastic lathe for turning pens.

1 Drawback i find with it, and always sorta manage to deal with it.. is the sticky tailstock and knob.. it just sticks.. alot.. hard to use lathe to drill with sticky headstock...

So anyone that has ever owned this lathe in the past.. have any suggestions how to free the headstock up and make it glide and turn better. Ive disassembled 2 set screws, taken it out completely, and when i hand turn it, it feels fine with no resistance.. threads and unthreads just fine..
once its mounted in though.. just gets sticky for some reason...

ive tried lightly sanding inside bore of the chamber on the tailstock to no available.. screws are "loose" on the side to hold it in on the ridge... not sure where the stickiness is coming from...

 

[KBs Pensnmore]

So yes i know this lathe is a piece of crap according to everyone in the world almost haha.. but i own one.. i have found every peice ive ever needed or wanted in a 1mt model no problem at all. for around $100 bucks with variable speed, i think its a fantastic fantastic lathe for turning pens.

1 Drawback i find with it, and always sorta manage to deal with it.. is the sticky tailstock and knob.. it just sticks.. alot.. hard to use lathe to drill with sticky headstock...

So anyone that has ever owned this lathe in the past.. have any suggestions how to free the headstock up and make it glide and turn better. Ive disassembled 2 set screws, taken it out completely, and when i hand turn it, it feels fine with no resistance.. threads and unthreads just fine..
once its mounted in though.. just gets sticky for some reason...

ive tried lightly sanding inside bore of the chamber on the tailstock to no available.. screws are "loose" on the side to hold it in on the ridge... not sure where the stickiness is coming from...

Hi Mike, photo's would help to identify the problem. At what position/s does the shaft stick, is the handle/knob in the same position each time.
Does the screw that locates in the slot, fit in easy, and is not tightened to tight. Check that there are no burrs in the slot, run a file to chamfer the edges slightly.
Take out the screw that pushes/pulls the tailstock and check that it is not bent, push the shaft in and check that the hole in the body lines up with shaft, it could be off centre a fraction, it would show as a wear/scrape section on the screw where it sits in the body, or on the end of the shaft. Have you lightly oiled the shaft and thread? As this could help.
Kryn

 

[monophoto]

I had a similar problem with my 12" Turncrafter. In my case, the tailstock screw threads into the ram. The locking screw for the handle fits into a groove machined into the side of the ram; in addition to being a means to lock the ram in place, the fact that the screw rides in that groove keeps the ram from rotating. It turns out that the problem was that there were rough edges on that groove that were binding on the screw. All it took to correct the problem was to file those edges smooth, and the problem went away.

 

[79spitfire]

My 8x12 does the same thing. I also found the ridges in the ram groove were rough. That wasn't the whole problem. Any time any load is put onto the ram it leaves dimples on the knob's groove surfaces where the set screws hold it. I could clean every thing up and then use it for a while, but if I put too much of a load onto the ram it would re-jam. I would drill with it by simply leaving the tailstock loose and sliding it into the work, not the best solution. IMHO it's a weak spot on these otherwise useful little lathes.

 

[KBs Pensnmore]

My 8x12 does the same thing. I also found the ridges in the ram groove were rough. That wasn't the whole problem. Any time any load is put onto the ram it leaves dimples on the knob's groove surfaces where the set screws hold it. I could clean every thing up and then use it for a while, but if I put too much of a load onto the ram it would re-jam. I would drill with it by simply leaving the tailstock loose and sliding it into the work, not the best solution. IMHO it's a weak spot on these otherwise useful little lathes.

The end of the set screws, are they tipped with brass or just the screw?
If they aren't, they can be tipped by drilling a small hole just under the size of an electrical screw thread, press fit the screw in, and jobs done, you've now got brass tipped screws.
Kryn

 

[mikedealer]

Ok, i actually solved problem last night, was kinda shocked..

I used a 1/4 dremel sanding bit, and "bored" out the inside of the tailstock in the back by the know a bit, like just a little little bit.. Then shoved a dremel polishing wheel in there and polished the hell out of it with some white compound like a mirror. was pretty easy and took 3 minutes

didnt fully solved stickiness...

So i had to take the 2 peice threaded bar with handle attached.. on the handle side, took medium sandpaper and kept sanding a bit of the back of the bar (between screw points, the ridges) and sanded, fit, sanded, fit, sanded, fit... after felt good, polished on a wheel, mirror on mirror polish surfaces now, the tailstock glides like :::insert dirty pun here::::

but seriously SOOO much better now, drilling a blank last night it was a pleasure... no stickiness whatsoever...

All in all, it was just a poor shitty fit by the lathe manufacturer.. cheapass lathe but it SO worth the $100 bucks.. whats funny is talking to someone else, they said their tailstock out of the box for them was 100% perfect and smooth..

thnaks guys for the insights there.

 

[79spitfire]

My 8x12 does the same thing. I also found the ridges in the ram groove were rough. That wasn't the whole problem. Any time any load is put onto the ram it leaves dimples on the knob's groove surfaces where the set screws hold it. I could clean every thing up and then use it for a while, but if I put too much of a load onto the ram it would re-jam. I would drill with it by simply leaving the tailstock loose and sliding it into the work, not the best solution. IMHO it's a weak spot on these otherwise useful little lathes.

The end of the set screws, are they tipped with brass or just the screw?
If they aren't, they can be tipped by drilling a small hole just under the size of an electrical screw thread, press fit the screw in, and jobs done, you've now got brass tipped screws.
Kryn

No tipping. Another thought would be to replace the steel set screws with longer brass screws, and fashion a regular crank wheel, it's not like there are any clearance problems where the set screws are. Since I got my dad's old Rockwell/Delta fixed up, I mostly use mine for polishing and trimming, things that don't require the tailstock to provide any real pressure anyway at this point.

For the price it is hard to beat, I think I spent about $100 on it several years ago, and have made around 200 pens and other small projects, including making one of parts for other pieces of shop equipment. In fact I'm pretty confident it's paid for it self just in those one off spare parts for other tools.

 

[mikedealer]

i need to make a handwheel next for it.. problem is the bore needed is gigantic if you actually look at it, unless you weld on a adapter or something. for $35 bucks i was gonna buy this replacement peice, and see if i can break the living **** out of it, make a handwheel, add bearings or bronze bushings for accuracy etc.. not sure.. never got around to it..
a friend suggested cutting the bottom off of the tailstock, and getting a better tailstock and cutting it to match centerpoint height, then weld the 2 peices.. seems like a waste for a $100 lathe but he is a machinist so its basically all time if you can find a nice donor unit.
ebay item 370948877777

 

[chartle]

All in all, it was just a poor shitty fit by the lathe manufacturer.. cheapass lathe but it SO worth the $100 bucks.. whats funny is talking to someone else, they said their tailstock out of the box for them was 100% perfect and smooth..

thnaks guys for the insights there.

I have the same lathe but the furthest its ever traveled was 1/4" to to tighten the mandrel saver.

I guess I have cranked in and out a few times and it seemed smooth. I haven't had a chance to get to it since you first started this thread to really check it out but I really need a better drilling rig. I have 2 drill presses but they both have very little travel.

 

[mikedealer]

i have this chuck, or something very similiar, it was important to get the 1/2" size minimum cause alot of larger bits have a 1/2" taper on the barrel.. if you get a 3/8 chuck it may not work for alot of bits
MT1 Heavy Duty Keyless Drill Chuck JT33 Taper Machinist Lathe Tool 0 1 2" Cap | eBay


i did have to sand the end down a bit to make a snugger MT1 Joint fit on the taper.. the end was not making it seat properly.. took like 1mm off. perfect snug fit and i have to use the metal poker each time to get it out now. which is good.

 

[79spitfire]

Nice!