A Dual Action Feed For A Lathe Tailstock

Geoff walker describes an improvement for his drummond m that can be adapted to many similar lathes.

- Geoff Walker

I am often researching old books and magazines for attachments and accessories which will enhance the performance and increase the versatility of my old pre-war Drummond lathe.

One such popular addition is a lever action tail stock attachment, which for me is generally preferable to the hand wheel feed. I say generally as there occasions when I would prefer to use a hand wheel feed. Unfortunately when a lever action attachment is fitted it usually takes some time to switch over and reinstate the hand wheel feed.

When after some research I discovered a tail stock attachment design which combines both the lever and hand wheel feed I was naturally very interested.

The researched attachment can be seen on a Winfield lathe in photo 1 and in a general arrangement drawing, fig 1. They are the work of the notable technical writer Mr Ian Bradley. His design featured as an article in a war time issue of Model Engineer Magazine, published in August 1941. I acquired a copy of this article, from issue 2103, which includes additional photos, drawings and instructions.

This article is essentially a brief analysis and review of Mr. Bradleys original work and how I adapted his design for use on my lathe. I have followed most of the detail in his design and only made some minor changes to the fulcrum forks (13), the link (11) and some fixings. No drawings are offered other than Mr Bradley’s. My intention is to present enough information through text and photographs to help a home machinist also adapt the idea for use on their lathe.