ilaboo wrote:

i probably baught the wrong item on ebay--i am a newbee to lathes etc

what is teh best way to take a morse taper spindale and get it down to
about 5/16 of an inch ( i plan to adapt a collet chuck with a mt3
spindle) to my smalljewlers lathe

A spindle, or an arbor? It sounds like you want to turn down an arbor
that originally FIT a morse taper spindle.


i know nothing about a mt spindle google gives all sorts of purchasing
info

i assume the spindle is made of very strong steel and cannot be cut
say with a carbide tool

It probably can be cut with carbide, but it will be hard to do so. You
probably
would do well to anneal it. That can often be done by heating it with a
propane
torch. The smooth ground surface will turn "straw" colored at a certain
point.
Heat it perhaps a little past that point and then let it cool slowly.
This should
reduce the hardness enough to make turning it easier with carbide. You
probably
are not going to be able to turn this on a jeweler's lathe, or at least
it would take
a long time to do so.

Jon