I have an Excelsior mini lathe. I've used it to make pens, made one for every relative and friend I know, was a lot of fun. I made a couple of little fixtures for the head and tail stock for pressing the pen parts to the wood.


Recently I've made a few one hand press top salt/peppermills and used the same little fixtures for pressing the parts together. The parts that press into the barrel are over 3/4" long and I found it very difficult to turn the tail stock. Should I find a new method for pressing these parts together, or is my method okay? I'm concerned I'll damage the tailstock.