Taper turning gizzmo on ebay

The only fly in the ointment is that as you move away from center, the object will have a tendency to spin in the tailstock from cutting pressure. Beyond that, it's a good idea. You would be somewhat better served by a design that has reliable adjustment, however. Something like a boring head, so you know how much you're moving the point, and you can fine tune the desired angle. I agree----it could be a fun project for a quiet winter day.

Harold

Tom,

They are an excellent concept but two design details need fixing:

a/ There must be no chance of the morse taper rotating or your geometry radically alters and it can get expensive as the tool jams. So the morse tang needs to be a good fit as well as the taper to give a safety factor.

b/ The offset adjustment really should be on a screw so fine adjustments are possible. Calibrating the screw can help in presetting tapers with a bit of maths.

AWEM

I made something like this from plans in one of Guy Lautard's Machinist Bedside Readers. Instead of a point, the center is drilled so you can put a small ball bearing between the work and center--did the same on the headstock end. Works pretty slick--I should put mine on ebay. It's made from flat bar stock, in a box-slide configuration. One end is milled so the body and slide are flush with each other when it's right on center. To get an accurate offset, or close to it, I use a vernier depth guage or shim stock on that end. The slide should definitely be perfectly horizontal with the lathe, and it should also have some type of support bracket(s) to keep it from moving as others say but mine doesn't.

Ken Grunke

And because of these, the ones that work best have a single non-center point tang mounted (welded ?) to the bar and a hex or such center point (hex shaft) that locks into the bar at several offsets.

Ultimate flexibility is a nice head you can offset by 0.0005" but it has the best use lifetime.

Semi-production goes to the welded bar I'm sure. Heads are to expensive for this normally.

Martin

has been removed from ebay

Nope-- you probably didn't get the full URL due to word wrap in your newsreader. Happened to me, too. Still there, sold for $100.

Ken Grunke