The standard tail stock for the C3 type mini lathe is usually (but not always) a spanner & nut job that pulls up a clamping plate on the underside of the bed. More often than not the arrangement is made is awkward due to the position of the saddle and compound slide & handle.
Still re-learning old skills and being impatient to get on with making stuff I opted for cheating, and buying the kit from the Little Machine Shop. (Also in the box was a longer cross-slide lead-screw for a later extended travel mod).
The contents of the kit are shown in the photo below. There is a threaded cylindrical centre component that replaces the existing nut, and a square section outer. Both are drilled through to accept a shaft with an eccentric centre section. When rotated by the handle, the cam pulls the centre section up, and locks the tail stock to the bed via the existing clamp plate.
One advantage of the design is that the assembly is self-contained in that the hole drilled through the tail stock casting is clearance only, it plays only a marginal role in locating the cam-shaft.
My method of fitting:
# Offer up the threaded cylinder component and square component to the casting and hold in place by screwing the clamp plate.
# Transfer punch to mark the casting.
# Drill through the casting at the mark. The LMS instructions suggest a 1/2 inch hole, but I drilled 16mm so that I could fit the inner circlip before fitting the cam shaft.
# I used a laser spotter for aligning the drill with the mark on the casting. Due to eyes & lighting in my garage I prefer to use the laser when I can.
# Refit the clamp plate etc. to the tail stock.
# Fit the inner circlip to the cam shaft.
# Grease the cam shaft and fit it from the rear of the lathe, checking that the hole in the boss where the handle is screwed in is where you want it.
# Offer the tail stock up to the bed.
# Adjust the clamp plate by winding in and out until the tail stock moves freely along the bed, but so that tighening one more turn will cause the tail stock to bind at some point when it is slid along the whole length of the bed.
# Fit the handle and check for correct operation. It should not need adjusting, but if it does need it, slide the tail stock off the bed and tighten or loosen the clamping plate by one turn.
# Fit the outer circlip on the cam shaft, and also the plastic knob on the handle.
# Job finished, have a cuppa or a pint depending on the time of day.
It works well; it is quicker and more convenient.
The whole task took about 50 minutes from opening the box to completed, including repairing my circlip pliers that had been re-purposed at some point in their history.
