This is undoubtedly a dumb question but as a beginner to machine work I have to admit I am kind of stumped.
I have a new 2012 Patriot VFD and am starting the projects in the Lathe Coursework book by Harold Hall you can buy from Shopmaster (or Amazon, etc).
On like the third step of the project after center drilling the end of the work (a 80mm long by 45mm or so in diameter piece of steel) he wants you to use a dead center and face the end of the piece to make it flat.
Ok, so that seems simple enough in theory and it shows him in the book doing that.
Problem is, on my Patriot there is no way to get the dead center close enough to the headstock to hold the piece. Even removing the bellows and the stop screw. Then moving the table with the cutting head on it as far toward the headstock as possible and with the tailstock extended to its limit it falls about 3 inches short of even touching the piece.
I do have the toolpost mounted in the default center position so I guess I could move it over one groove but that only picks up about 2.75 inches so I am still short of being able to engage it. On top of that with the tailstock extended out it's full length it would seem to defeat the purpose of it adding centering/rigidity for the cut. I have even seen pictures of lathes on the internet where they have a dead center in the tailstock and a point in the headstock touching to align them. Figuring I must be missing something.
I know I could probably just try to face the end without the dead center but I am trying to follow the book step for step to learn the lessons he is trying to teach. Plus I doubt that would true up the end of the piece which I think is what this step is supposed to be teaching you how to do.
So am I just not setting something up correctly? Should I be using a different configuration of the machine? Because it's a 3 in 1 the generic lathe information on the internet hasn't been too useful as this seems more machine specific.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
I have a new 2012 Patriot VFD and am starting the projects in the Lathe Coursework book by Harold Hall you can buy from Shopmaster (or Amazon, etc).
On like the third step of the project after center drilling the end of the work (a 80mm long by 45mm or so in diameter piece of steel) he wants you to use a dead center and face the end of the piece to make it flat.
Ok, so that seems simple enough in theory and it shows him in the book doing that.
Problem is, on my Patriot there is no way to get the dead center close enough to the headstock to hold the piece. Even removing the bellows and the stop screw. Then moving the table with the cutting head on it as far toward the headstock as possible and with the tailstock extended to its limit it falls about 3 inches short of even touching the piece.
I do have the toolpost mounted in the default center position so I guess I could move it over one groove but that only picks up about 2.75 inches so I am still short of being able to engage it. On top of that with the tailstock extended out it's full length it would seem to defeat the purpose of it adding centering/rigidity for the cut. I have even seen pictures of lathes on the internet where they have a dead center in the tailstock and a point in the headstock touching to align them. Figuring I must be missing something.
I know I could probably just try to face the end without the dead center but I am trying to follow the book step for step to learn the lessons he is trying to teach. Plus I doubt that would true up the end of the piece which I think is what this step is supposed to be teaching you how to do.
So am I just not setting something up correctly? Should I be using a different configuration of the machine? Because it's a 3 in 1 the generic lathe information on the internet hasn't been too useful as this seems more machine specific.
Thanks for any help you can offer.