Different brand tailstock on lathe?

I have a General 26020 and the quill in the tailstock is pretty worn out. I really only have a useable 1.5” to maybe 2” of throw out of the total 3.5”. The design is also such that unless i use an 2MT - 2MT extender, the entire body of the tailstock is really close to the work. Its sloppy and the quill needs to be tightened down to use it which means i cant drill holes via Jacobs chuck because everything moves around too much.

So all of this added up has me looking at different tailstocks, well really only 1 so far, the tailstock from the grizzly G0694. A few issues/questions with this, 1) the entire assembly from grizzly will cost me $460, 2) I am not confident that a 20” lathe from General will line up perfectly with a 20” lathe from another brand, 3) are all ways the same? Can I simply put a different tailstock on and it will work?

I haven’t been able to track down a price for a complete tailstock from a powermatic 3520, or the Rikon 70-450. Any others i should look into?

Have you ever used a different brand of tailstock on a lathe?

I know i could have a new quill machined and that would solve some of my problems, probably for half the price of the new tailstock, but it wont solve the overall design/size of the tailstock issue.

Any other ideas?

Chance, the gap between the ways varies between brands and even those that state a gap, i.e. 1.5”, that can vary a few thousands. Same with the swing of the lathe. One company’s 16” may be thousands different from another 16” lathe. It is absolutely critical that the center of your tail stock align with the drive center. I think the odds of that happening with another brand of tail stock is remote. And, with many tailstocks, there is little to minimal side to side adjustment and rarely vertical adjustment.

I would go to a machine shop and talk to them about rebuilding your tailstock .

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Originally Posted by Chance Raser

Have you ever used a different brand of tailstock on a lathe?

I know i could have a new quill machined and that would solve some of my problems, probably for half the price of the new tailstock, but it wont solve the overall design/size of the tailstock issue.

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A friend called recently with the same problem on an old 16" lathe - a worn/damaged quill which made the tailstock unusable and no replacement could be found. We talked about options, including substituting a tailstock from a different model. The bottom line, none of the tailstocks we checked would fit directly although one might have been adapted by machining the cast iron.

He ended up having a machine shop repair the damaged quill and I don't think it cost much.

JKJ

Thanks for the input John, John and John, LOL. I have reached out to a machine shop and plan to take my tailstock in to talk about a quote.

I think you are doing the right thing. I bet it will not cost a whole lot. Wishing you some good luck.

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Originally Posted by Chance Raser

Thanks for the input John, John and John, LOL. I have reached out to a machine shop and plan to take my tailstock in to talk about a quote.

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This is totally the right call. Mind you I love restoring old tools, so you could have some fun doing it yourself????