Craftsman 103 lathe: face-plate LH thread?

[Ecosta777]

Hello everyone,
New to the forum here, my name is Eric, as well as being machinist by day (and night) I also restore/sell old woodworking and metalworking machinery. I am in the process of restoring a Craftsman 103.2307 lathe, and I went to go chase the face-plate threads with a 3/4-16 tap, only to discover it was left a handed thread. The headstock spindle has a 3/4-16 LH thread on the backside, but why would it mount there? It should be a right handed thread otherwise with the LH it will unscrew when used, and there's no way to utilize it off the backside since there's nowhere to put the tool rest... Has anyone else ever run into this, or know why this was done? I'm just going to bore / sleeve it and thread it RH to use with this lathe, but I'm curious to know why this was done in the first place.
-Eric

 

[MShaw]

It mounts on the back to allow you to mount workpieces that have too large a diameter clear the ways.

 

[Ecosta777]

It mounts on the back to allow you to mount workpieces that have too large a diameter clear the ways.

What good is that if you cannot support the tool with a rest off the back?

 

[rsanter]

What good is that if you cannot support the tool with a rest off the back?

You use an independent stand that holds the tool rest.
That way you can position it where you need without restriction

Bob

 

[CKS1955]

You use an independent stand that holds the tool rest.
That way you can position it where you need without restriction

Bob

^^^^^^What Bob said.


Jay