I was turning a new tool handle a while back, and in the middle of turning, my tailstock clamp broke. I suppose I had tightened it a little too much, and cast iron isn't "strong". It is brittle. I looked eBay over for a few months and found very little, and last Saturday, I thought I should go through my scrap bin and find some steel to mill a new clamp. Luckily, I had a spare to finish (a second lathe) the tool turning, and I used that to measure for the new part.
I grabbed a chunk of steel, and virtually squared it up (technically, I left the large surfaces alone because they'd be close enough). I did this one slightly wider than the original (more meat equals stronger part, right?). With the stock squared, I milled the mating surfaces to match bottom of the bed (just like the old clamp, about 0.08" down from the top surface).
I then flipped the part, and milled the slot for the through-bolt and it's head. Here's the broken clamp (right), the spare I used as the measurement in the back, and the new one in the front :
Now I have the spare headstock put away (with it's clamp), and I have the solid steel one in place on the bed. I dare not tighten it too much because I don't want to snap the lathe bed. Since the part was a cast iron part, I made the choice to stamp it with the original part number (L2-7). This I did in case someone needs to replace it in the future - they can look up the part number along with the model and know what they need.
I installed it, and it works as it should!
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