Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago

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This is a tip which I took along from my metalworking days.
It will help you to prevent damaging the internal taper in your tailstock while drilling. The drilling action makes the whole drill chuck want to rotate and sometimes it comes loose and starts turning. This will cause scratching on both the drill chuck taper and the internal taper on the lathe. Once scratched, the holding power will be reduced and the situation goes from bad to worse.
Fixing your tailstock taper is an expensive repair. This tip will help you to prevent this.