taper turning

[texx]

           
i dont put much in here but thought i would just put a couple of pics in cos i know you like pics specialy when its a dirty lathe that makes yours look clean .
i just bought a taper turning attachment and after making a few mods and drilling a taping a few holes i got it to fit my lathe and have been playing with it .( the taper atachment that is )
now that i have it set right i am making a few morse number 3 blanks to be made into endmill adaptors , i will make 3 or 4 while it is setup main thing is to turn the end then drill and tap the end for the draw bar , get that done to all of them before disconecting from the cross slide , then i can take off the 4 jaw and fit a number 5 to 3 morse in the head stock spindle and put the blanks straight in there to turn and bore the rest .
these are for use on my mill drill , i only have an er32 collet set for it which pulls up at 20mm with these adaptors i can use a couple of 1 inch end mills that i have plus anything else i might stumble onto .
the steel by the way is very very old shafting ( farm machinery type stuff )at least 70 years old and seems to be a lot like 4140 to me , turns very nice a lot better than 1020 anyway .

johno

[Mayhem]

Very nice Johno - you should share more often!

What lathe do you have?

[texx]

the lathe is nothing special but its all i have and it will do , its a toolex CQ6230 which is a 12x36 lathe and is the same as a lot of other asian lathes such as the old AL330 or one of the lathes that grizzly sells across the pond cant remember what they call it over there ,mine is a 1999 year build .
my milldrill is just a HM46 or  what they call a RF45 clone .
the taper atachment is the one that hare and forbes sell to fit the al960b and the al336 lathes.

johno

[hexreader]

Nice to see something that inspires me to try something new for myself. I like it :)

Sorry for the noob question, but what does a taper-turning attachment do that just setting the compound slide at an angle does not do please?

More specifically should I buy one of these?  http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathe-tools...stock.html

In case it matters - this is the lathe that I have: http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-meta...lathe.html

As always, any clues much appreciated. Still struggling to learn...

[Roadracer_Al]

My understanding is that there are 2 benefits: first, you can do longer tapers than the setting the compound slide; second, it utilizes the power feed rather than cranking the handles.

One *could* turn tapers between centers by setting the tail stock off-center, as well, and this could also utilize the power feed.

However, that requires re-centering the tail stock (much like tramming the head on a mill, a minor PITA.) The best way I've found is to put a Blake CoAx indicator in the chuck (or collet would be better), and sweep the tailstock live center.

[hexreader]

Thanks Roadracer_Al,

Those seem like big benefits to me.

I will get me one of those gadgets to try out, just in case it gives me more inspiration.

Not sure I understood the last paragraph of your post - but maybe with experimentation and thought, it will come to me :)

Many thanks,

[Dr Stan]

Its interesting that in 40 years of machining and as a manufacturing engineer I only used a taper attachment twice. Most of the time we used the compound even for MT on shafting. Just cut a #2 MT on a face mill holder/shank and used the compound on my Logan.

That said, pre-CNC that was about the only way to single point cut tapered threads.

[texx]

i cut my first half dozen morse tapers using the compound slide , the last tapers i cut that way was when i made an er32 collet chuck and it worked out just fine and i have been using that collet chuck a lot since . i read somewhere that most lathes have enough travel in the compound to cut thier own tapers .
but thats about the limit of travel . this attachment was going at less than half new price and is in as new condition . the best thing about it is being able to cut power feed .

johno

[TomG]

Nice job on the tapers. Is the steel hot rolled, or just rusty? Or can you tell?

A good way to check your taper is to use a MT socket and some Prussian blue. Just put a light coat of blue on the taper, stick it in the socket and twist. The blue will rub off on the tighter end.

Tom

[texx]

very old and very rusty and pitted shafting tom , been laying outside on a farm for many many years but lovley stuff once i got through the bark on it .
i will be keeping my eye open for more old agricultural type shafting at farm clearing sales thats for sure , although this bit came from our own place some that my dad aquired many years ago .
couple more pics of one of the finished ones with a 1 inch mill in it OD at the big end is  1 3/4", i still have to drill and tap grub screw holes in them .

johno