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Just finished thru hiking the Appalachian Trail, and in those six months I thought alot about pipe making. I bought a oneway chuck for my Delta wood lathe, works great. The problem is that the tailstock is totally out of alignment and has way to much play everywhere. I've indicated it in, shimmed where it needed to and it's just not working. So, I do my rough shaping on the Delta, find the center, then i take it to my drill press to do the drilling. This works fine, but I do get alittle out of center. My questions to you Taig lathe users are, Is the tailstock, carriage pretty rigid? Has anyone used the milling attachment? I'm thinking that I could still use the delta for rough shaping, then take it to the Taig lathe milling attachment and dial to the center and drill.

I wouldn't recommend the Taig for what you are considering. It is probably *possible* but it is far from ideal. The Taig is just too lightweight and small.

I have heard these stories from Delta owners before. Fortunately, my Jet (identical unit to Deltas) does not have this problem. That said, try moving the tailstock into position and letting it touch the wood and self-center before locking it down and drilling. That *may* solve your problem.

To echo Tyler, the Taig is not the tool you're looking for. *waves hand* You want a much larger metal lathe for pipe drilling.

I'll echo Kurt on your wood lathe problems. I too have the wood lathe you describe, and mine also has a fair amount of play in the tailstock. I can do everything fine though, so I'm having trouble imagining your exact issue. The trick of touching the bit to the wood to allow it to center is what I do, then I lock and drill. No problem.

I bet your current setup can be made to work.

Thanks guys. I'll do alittle bit of experimenting with it. See what I can figure out.

By the way, congratulations on the thru hike. Great accomplishment and something I have always wanted to do.

So I fooled around with the tailstock a bit. The problem is when I lock down the tailstock, the front of it moves towards me. So, I put a shim where it needed to be. Finding the center then locking down the tailstock worked great. Don't know why I didn't think about doing that, seeing as how, usually when I'm not woodworking at work, i'm running a lathe. Then again those machines are dead nuts.



TimGeorge,
Thanks. I highly recommend hiking the trail to anyone interested. I learned that your mind is your biggest enemy out there on the trail.

Thanks guys.
Abe

LAH wrote:I learned that your mind is your biggest enemy out there on the trail.

Are you sure Abe? Are you sure?

hahaha..... good one.. Wait a minute, I play the banjo.

But can you squeal like a pig?

No need to, I'm from West Virginia, if that means anything.