Sherline Lathe - DIY Vertical Milling Table

I realized I had enough spare parts to make a vertical slide for my lathe and have wanted to use the lathe for more milling and boring projects.

The only part I couldn't make was the main body so I bought that from Mike's.

There is only 0.925" of usable travel below the the surface of the lathe cross slide so the vertical slide is mostly for work holding.

I have upgraded almost all of my 4 Sherline machines with some sort of DIY backlash adjustment and so this is no exception.

I have found the perfect DIY backlash assembly but now I need to find a good source of gears!

This an outstanding back lash adjuster because it is limitless in travel and the engagement is solid.
It is really just a usable version of the Sherline system.

Sherline Lathe - Tail stock Alignment

I had not checked the tail stock alignment in a while and found that it was running very low; about 0.010"!

This is how I align the spindle and the tail stock and found the low position. 

I started by using my feeler gages under the tail stock until I found the right answer.

I have some shim stock so I added them to the bottom of the tail stock and put a 4-40 screw to hold it in place.

For the other two axis I rely on the gage pin fitting into the taper pin.

Hand Tapping Guide Canedy-Otto no 28

I have been looking for the inexpensive way to a dedicated Tapping Press and this is what I came up with.

This a 1910 drill press that had been modified at least a couple of times.
Very interesting in that it has cast in place bearings.
It worked well the 1st few times so I added the the thumb screws on the upper pulley.
It really needed a lever down at the chuck and as it turns out the shaft end (with the taper) is 1.0" od which is exactly the size of many standard dies. I took an old die handle and mounted it without modification.

This is what it originally looked like