What kind of lathe? What kind of spindle nose?

A faceplate held in the lathe chuck would be marginally useful IMO.

You can in general get *anything* for any normal lathe, whether it has a
threaded spindle nose, a D-n spindle nose, or an L-n spindle nose. Just look on
ebay.

Lathe dogs are excellent to buy imported. They are low precision items.

Buy a copy of "How To Run A Lathe" by the South Bend Lathe Works. Read it
several times. That book is a gem. Any edition is fine. Lindsay reprints it but
there are bazillions floating around used. I bet I own 4 of 'em.

GWE

xray wrote:

So I recently got myself a used matal lathe. It came with a pretty good
selection of accessories, but I am looking to fill what I don't have
that I may need.

First, I have almost no experience, so I have been studying. I have
several books including MH and "Machine Shop Practice." To firm this
stuff in my brain, I ordered the 5-DVD set from
http://technicalvideorental.com/rental_12.html

"Lathe Learnin'" made by Precision Measurement in San Antonio. Good
Stuff. I learned a lot that willl save me much wasted time.

In two sections near the end, he uses a faceplate that, rather than
being on the lathe spindle has its own spindle that is then clamped in
the lathe chuck. At one point the spindle has a point as it is used to
drive a dog for taper turning. Later, what appears to be the same
faceplate, is used to set up a piece clamped off of the lathe for
drilling and boring. I couldn't tell, but it seems that the center point
would be in the way for this operation. No mention was made either time
about the face plate and spindle itself.

So -- this seems useful -- the question: Are others doing this? Can I
easily buy a faceplate/spindle that I can clamp in my chuck.
With/without a center point? If so what do I look for and where to find
it.

----

Right now I've got nothing I can use on the headstock end for turning
between centers. The above questions offer one option that may be the
most flexible for my needs. I could order a big MT-5 center to fit my
spindle but the video made me think.

I have no dogs. Suppose I may encounter a need to turn something between
.5 inch and 2.5 inch. How many steps of dog capacity do I need? Is there
a rule of thumb? Is there a more flexible way of providing the drive
force?

Thanks in advance.