Making taper attachment for lathe - what range of taper?

Often enough it is easier to make an additional operation on the right side of the work. Now it only depends on what you intend to do.

Examples: A MT with a thread for the drawbar. A MT with a collet holder.

Nick

I think you'd like to taper both ways. An inside bore generally goes larger to smaller. Outside smaller to larger. Of course, you could get by turning the tool upside down and cutting on the backside for the ID bore. My attachment must go up to a 10 degree taper.

If the taper turning attachment is pivoted in the middle then it takes less depth than one pivoted at the end and also will do tapers in either direction by default.

10 degrees is probably as much as you'll ever want. More than that is likely to be short enough to do with the compound slide.

Mark Rand RTFM

Actually, I was thinking of pivoting it at both ends, so to speak. That way I can use a nice smooth rod that came from a dead printer. I was going to mout the rod in blocks at each end, and have a pivot hole in each. A third block would be bushed with the guides that were in the printer, and would be used to attach the bit that bolts to the cross-slide.

A quick-release bolt of the type used for cycle seats would go through the pivot hole and through a pair of slotted plates (a pair at each end). For tapers one way, one block would be all the way towards the bed, at the end of its slot, and the other end would be set at the right amount in its slot; for the other way, the reverse.

At first I was thinking of using the qr bolts because they would not tend to move the end when tightening them, but the slots they would run in would have to be carefully cut at the inside end. The other extreme was having each block have a threaded hole and using a screw to set the distance from the bed, but that means the end of the screw would have to pivot as well and thus would have some play.

Now I am thinking that I will make the blocks so that they fit nice and flush against the mounting blocks that will carry the slotted plates, and make the slots allow for a little extra travel inwards. Clean, push, tighten partway, tap with the brass hammer, check the angle, tap, check, tap, check, tighten all the way.

Comments welcome...