by Gareth Bellringer

Do you have trouble turning to a shoulder? Do you long for an easy way of repeating where you stop the carriage?

If you answered yes to either one of these, you could need a carriage stop.

Here is what mine looks like.

This was made from a block of aluminium which is 51×26.3x22mm

To machine the contour of the lathe Vee, I mounted the stock in a vice at an angle.

I also made:

A Clamp plate.

This is the locking screw, for the adjustable stop, it is made from stainless steel, and is threaded M5

This is the adjustable stop, it is made from some sort of steel, and measures 74mm in length, the thick bit is 17.5×7.8 and the remainder is 6.8mm in diameter.

On the bottom of the clamp is two nubs that act as a lever for the clamping plate, they measure 4mm in diameter and protrude by 3mm. These were made by drilling two 3x4mm holes, and then gluing two 4x6mm aluminium dowels in.

Lets talk about the main body, on the top side it has two countersunk holes, for two M6 screws. it doesn’t matter where these go really however I shall, draw a proper plan for them.The larger hole is 10mm and the smaller is a clearance hole 7mm.

On the side of the stop is a hole, 7mm in diameter to take the adjustable stop.

On the back of the stop there is a hole, tapped m5 to take the adjustable stop screw.

There is a bit of extra space, if you wanted to put a micrometer, or make a multiple stop disk. That shouldn’t be too hard.

  Lathe_Carriage_Stop_by_Gareth_Bellringer.pdf (319.7 KiB, 159 hits)
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Thanks for reading.

By Gareth Bellringer About the Author

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Hello there folks, I’ve had my lathe over a year now, and I’m sick to death of fiddling with the little bolt to loosen the tailstock. Something always seems to get in the way. So after a bit of research I thought I’d have a go at making my very own tailstock camlock. Note: I’ve included drawings in PDF format at the bottom of this post.

The problem.

The solution.

Here we see the tailstock as a whole:

Finished camlock.

So I started by machining a new clamp plate, this measures 42.00mm by 25.4mm. It is 5.7mm thick. The grooves come in 8.5mm from each edge and are 2 mm deep. The hole is 10mm in diameter and is 15 mm from the right hand edge and 13.5 mm from the front edge (closest to the camera in this picture)

The clamp plate.

Next I machined a clamp bolt from 10mm steel bar (of unknown grade) which was threaded on both ends using an M8 die. The bolt is 56.3mm in length, the larger threaded portion is 12.2mm to the shoulder, the smaller threaded portion is 9.2mm to the shoulder. Then I attached a bolt on the end, and put it in the lathe to shorten the length of the nut so that it would clear the bed.

The clamp bolt.

Next I made a cam receiver, it was made from 12.7mm hex stock, centerdrilled then drilled to 6.8mm, then tapped M8, once this was done, it was cross drilled 8mm.

The receiver is 17.6mm in length. The cross drilled hole is halfway along the length.

The Receiver

After these were done, I made the cam. This was done by offsetting the work in the four jaw chuck. This would be easier to do on an individual four jaw, but I don’t have one, I only have a self centering so I offset it by putting some packing material in. The cam was made from 10mm steel (unknown grade) and is 47.2mm in length. The offset portion is 13mm long and 7.8mm in diameter.

Turning the cam.

I did this at quite a slow speed, because I was worried about the work coming out. I wasn’t sure how secure it was. Either way it turned out well.

Finished cam with handle attached.

The cam was pressed into a bit of steel that had been drilled to the same size as the cam, then cross drilled to accommodate the handle.

Here is an overview of the parts

The only thing missing from the image above is a spring that is used to keep the clamp plate away from the ways when it is unlocked.

In Use:

Here the tailstock is unlocked.

Here it is locked.

Note the nice knob on the end of the handle, this was made using my ball turning attachment. I haven’t shown the handle because the dimensions aren’t critical.

To conclude:

This has been a very worthwhile project, saving me lots of time and frustration. If I was to make it again I would make the part of the cam that goes into the receiver slightly longer, so that I could put a circlip on it so that it wouldn’t come out.

Although this is for the Clarke Lathe, I’m sure that you would be able to modify it for your machine. As promised, here are the plans:

  Camlock_for_a_Lathe_Tailstock_by_Gareth_Bellringer.pdf (262.7 KiB, 311 hits)
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Thanks for reading.

By Gareth Bellringer About the Author

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I’m sure many of you have already seen the “captive nut” in one form or another. I came across it a few years ago and forgot all about it until it showed up on the forum recently.

Here’s Gareth Bell’s Captive Nut:

And here’s another version by Jerry:

It’s a great project for the beginner for a couple of reasons, but mostly because it allows you to practice single-point threading. Once you’re done you’ve got quite the conversation piece that will puzzle and entertain kids and adults alike.

For more information (including links with directions on how to make your own) visit the original forum post by Gareth.