Stupid Tailstock Ruined My Night (almost)

[usfwood]

Here I am. Dinners is done, blank is drilled and glued, and I am looking forward to turning some new style.

I had the blank on the mandrel.

One half of the blank roughed down.

And all of the sudden some one hit the brakes.

My Rikon tailstock dediced it did not want to turn anymore. To make matters worse, the non-60 degree tip is now a blunt, the center hole in the mandrel is plugged with what used to be the tip, and I am done for the night.

The lathe is over a year old, but not used that much. I have been sporadic at turning things over the last year. Maybe a dozen pens, and some other spindles just playing around.

I guess I will try to call Rikon tomorrow to order replacement bearings, snaprings, and the center tip.

Oh well, I played with hand saws, planes, and files to console myself.

Have a great evening.

 

[Penmonkey]

That shouldn't happen to a one year old lathe. Where you putting exsessive force on the tailstock? I feel for you.[]

 

[usfwood]

Not really. I have in the past. It looked like the internal snapring came loose, and the bearings are mildly noisey.

 

[ctEaglesc]

Ask for Rod Burroughs .He is the best

 

[TBone]

Tough break Darin, good luck with Rikon. Keep us posted on what happens

 

[Rifleman1776]

Seems a lot of negative experiences are related here, and elsewhere, about Rikon tools. Enough to steer me away from considering purchasing anything with that name brand. Sorry about your trouble.

 

[ctEaglesc]

Iread one problem and and a positive response.
Frank I recall you having problems with a Reeves drive on your lathe?
Who made it?
I certainly don't want to buy that brand!

 

[usfwood]

Update --
I called Rikon. They are sending me a new tailstock immediately. They were very positive and easy to work with. I have not had any other problems with the lathe, and it runs pretty smoothly. Overall I have been happy with the lathe. But my opinion comes with a caveat due to lack of experience with other lathes.

Eagle, Thanks, I did speak with Rod. He was very easy to work with.

 

[Mudder]

Originally posted by Rifleman1776
<br />Seems a lot of negative experiences are related here, and elsewhere, about Rikon tools. Enough to steer me away from considering purchasing anything with that name brand. Sorry about your trouble.

I have a Rikon bandsaw and have had not one problem with it whatsoever.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by ctEaglesc
<br />Iread one problem and and a positive response.
Frank I recall you having problems with a Reeves drive on your lathe?
Who made it?
I certainly don't want to buy that brand!

Maybe the same Chinaman that made his Rikon. My 'problem' turned out that I didn't know the procedure to change the belt.

 

[Russb]

"My Rikon tailstock dediced it did not want to turn anymore."

"I guess I will try to call Rikon tomorrow to order replacement bearings, snaprings, and the center tip."

This thread had me confused from the beginning. I know of no tailstocks that turn. Bearings?????
Sounds like a bad live center to me. Now Rikon is sending a new Tailstock????

Whatever the answer is here I sure would like to know the final resolution to this one.

 

[usfwood]

Russb,
Sorry for the confusion. The live center in the tailstock locked up.]
I called Rikon, and they are sending me a new one.

BTW, even though I never registered the lathe, the customer support was very easy to deal with.

 

[Randy_]

You should think about buying a 60° live center to use with your pen mandrels.

 

[Russb]

Great, thanks for the info Darin. Rikon probably does not make the live center. You might consider a better center. I ususally buy mine from Craft Supply. If you start another thread about good live centers others will have some good inexpensive suggestions. Like Randy said you should have a center with a 60 degree point to properly fit the mandrel and use no more than moderate pressure to hold the mandrel secure. I also have spares. But then again I have spares of everything, chucks, tools, lathes etc.

 

[bob393]

Bad break, but I'm glad the stepped up to fix it.

 

[usfwood]

Well, I recieved my live center last night, and to celebrate I finished the pen I started when the center died.

This pen also represents some firsts, and as soon as I figure how to resize the photos I will post it.

Have a great day.

D

 

[Jamie]

I have your Rikon and use it every day -but- the first thing I did after buying it was get a good 60 degree center. The one that comes on it is a $17 POS. I think it's a good little lathe for the money, we get what we pay for. Good luck!