removing a tailstock taper

[Hopefuldave]

But - if you wind the tailstock quill (barrel) forwards, the screw will eventually disengage and you can remove it from the main casting - then you'll find the thread the handwheel screw engaged will be in a through-bore which you can put a drift into to knock the Morse taper out. The Morse taper tooling should have a tang on the small end which hits the screw when retracted to free the tooling, often cheap tooling doesn't have the tang (and a lot of Chinese tooling is made shorter and won't hit the screw).

Alternatively, there may be a slot in the quill (barrel) where you can tap in a wedge (a Morse taper drift) to bear on the back (small) end of the Morse taper tool, BUT the short tooling (if you're cursed with it) won't reach the slot...

Dave H. (the other one)