Non adjustable tailstock - how to fix?

[sco]

When checking the barrel are you using a known 'good' taper - just wondering if the barrel is actually good and it is the drill chuck taper that is wrong or worn.  Couple of lathe manufacturers use the MT1 taper but some use the small end and some the large - you can't mix and match.

Simon.

[wagnmkr]

I really like the idea of lapping it and might give that a go.  I will make sure to clean everything before putting it to use again.

Thanks again 

I forgot to mention that the process I outlined can also be done by turning the lathe by hand ... it is safer in that nothing can get jammed up.

Tom

[dbendeke]

About the short/long taper:
I used a known good taper. I have a few mt1 tapered items, some from a Proxxon Lathe. I did the measurements with two different tapers and they show pretty much the same values. The proxxon Lathe used the short tapers but looking down the barrel, I am pretty sure it has been made with (or for)  long tapered tools. But I haven't tried measuring with the short taper and will give that a try - just to be absolutely sure.
I hope I understood your point correctly and I really appreciate your comment. You may be right but I hope not. I will check :-)

About the lapping:
Thank you for the added suggestion about turning the lathe manually. I will definitely start out turning the lathe manually but I might loose my patience and turn it on :-)

[dbendeke]

Just a little follow-up

I received a MT1 reamer today and used some grinding paste (from a lathe lapping kit) and just touched the surface with a reamer - just to test it. I did some lapping for 10 min and it is already very promising. The taper is already pretty good. I haven't tested it with a dial but before it has visual runout and now it does not!

When the "proper" lapping paste arrives, I wil give it a good spin (manually first) and then I am sure that the dial will show a perfect fit between the taper and chuck.

There must have been some burrs and other errors in the taper that lapping and 1 turn of the reamer has fixed. Well almost. Now I can't wait untill I can finish the repair and have a working tailstock.

Thank you so much to all for your comments and solutions. It really helped me to get going and to find and fix the problem. You guys are GREAT!