New Turner Here - HF Tailstock Problems

[Nick Chambers]

Hey everybody. I am a 38 year old newbie turner. I turned a little bit when I was younger with my grandfather and recently start putting together my own shop. I bought the 5 speed benchtop lathe from Harbor Freight and I have been turning slimline pens so far. I bought a starter kit from Amazon (http://amzn.com/B0043M5YDE) and turned a few pens and they turned out great. That kit included predrilled blanks. I don't have a drill press.

I purchased a mandrel saver after I learned about bent mandrels. The first time I used it, it caused the mandrel to spin out of true. The bushings toward the tail stock were bouncing. The mandrel would spin fine without the saver with the live center in the tail stock.

Next I purchased a pen drilling chuck and a 1/2" drill chuck to drill blanks on the lathe. I thought this would be better than a drill press and drilling vice (for my situation). When I drilled my first blank, the spinning blank caused the drill bit to wobble. I then realized that the tail stock has a little bit of play in it and causes the tip of the bit to be off center. This is probably the problem with the mandrel saver as well. It still drilled fine, but it obviously doesn't produce a very precise hole. I made a pen with this blank that I drilled and it turned out great.

Any advice on what I can do about the tail stock?

[Steve Doerr]

Nick, welcome aboard. As I read your post there were two things that came to mind:
1) if the entire tail stock is loose, there is a nut that is on the underside that can be tightened in order to increase the leverage when you tighten the tail stock down. Most of the time it takes just a quarter turn. Be sure not to over tighten as it will cause you not to be able to move the tail stock at all.

2) both the mandrel saver and the drill chuck need to be completely seated in the spindle of the tail stock or they will wobble. To do this, you will need to crank out the spindle probably an inch or two. This will cause the items to properly seat into the tail stock.

Those are my immediate thoughts based on what you have described. If that does not help, let us know and we will try and help you find the solution.

Good luck,
Steve