Fixing a Slipping Tailstock on a Mini-Lathe
Author:
Badmin
The tailstock on my mini lathe kept slipping instead of locking down, and it turned out the culprit was a locking plate that barely made contact with the lathe bed. I made a bigger replacement plate out of 1018 mild steel, rounding it on a mandrel in the drill press and welding two pieces together, and it gave two to three times the contact area of the original. After mounting it back on the tailstock, the slipping was gone and it locked down solid every time.