leadscrew nut re taper attachment

[petertha]

(10-25-2012, 06:26 PM)f350ca Wrote: The manual shows the carrage without the taper attachment.

Thanks f350. I stared at your manual schematic for quite some time wondering how it could work before back-tracking & picking up on your comment. I understand the setting of the angle business on the taper attachment, but they really don't go on to say that anything different has to be done to temporarily disengage the leadscrew from the nut. No 'pull handle', 'drop leaver', 'remove pin'. Is this similarly ommitted from the manual? You say you just set the angle, nothing else & away it goes?

I'm not a pro mechanic, but I just cant visualize a dual, simultaneous arrangement where the cross slide table nut is engaged against the leadscrew thread, but then then the taper connection can 'push' against threaded engagement this along an angle?

One upon a time I recall seeing a book or video where the guy pulled a handle or knob prior to taper turning somewhere near the leadscrew handle. I got the impression it disengaged a clutch or something similar that de-coupled the leadscrew?

Hmm.. a mystery to me still. Now I really want to undersand how lathes accomodate this capability so I can figure out if something can be done on mine short of cross slide knock-down. I was thinking if the nut was round shaped, but flat on one side, teh flat would allow the cross slide table to pass overhead without engaging the 'step' in the cylindrical fitting. I will ahve to headscratch more. Thanks for teh info thus far.