I've been playing with the idea of making a taper attachment for PM1440
for a while, but because most of the stuff I do is within the range of
the compound I have just been using that. Well, a buddy of mine asked
me to make some longer tapers yesterday and he's willing to pay a fair
rate, so I move that up to "next project" status.

I don't really want to remove the back splash from the lathe, so here is
my thought. Put the pivot support near the head with the pivot center
as close to exactly halfway between the bed and the splash guard. The
back not the one over the chuck. Then make two or three swing ends.
Maybe one at about 8 inches for short steep tapers, one at 20 inches,and
one at the full end of the bed for really long tapers. My thought is
that both ends of the linear rail can be held in a pinch collar so the
swing end can just be machined straight. Loosen the collars. Adjust
the position, and lock it in place. I know it may be a bit fiddley, but
nothing a brass hammer can't be used to adjust. If I need to use a
different swing end bracket I can unbolt the collar from the bracket it
is on, remove the linear rod and replace it with a longer or shorter
one, and slide the collar and mount on to line up with the desired swing
end bracket. The best part is that as long as I record everything in my
notebook I don't have to make everything at once. Just the part I need
right now. I could of course just use 1 swing end bracket, and have
three sets of mounting holes, but I think if I have to do much of this
work I'd like to leave the brackets in place, and just remove the
bracket on the cross slide and the linear rail and its mounts when not
in use. It would make setups much faster when I need it, and I don't
think the adjustable and pivot brackets would be in the way when the
rail is off. They might catch some chips, but that's about it.

On 12/5/2017 10:52 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
I've been playing with the idea of making a taper attachment for PM1440
for a while, but because most of the stuff I do is within the range of
the compound I have just been using that.Â* Well, a buddy of mine asked
me to make some longer tapers yesterday and he's willing to pay a fair
rate, so I move that up to "next project" status.

I don't really want to remove the back splash from the lathe, so here is
my thought.Â* Put the pivot support near the head with the pivot center
as close to exactly halfway between the bed and the splash guard.Â* The
back not the one over the chuck.Â* Then make two or three swing ends.
Maybe one at about 8 inches for short steep tapers, one at 20 inches,and
one at the full end of the bed for really long tapers.Â* My thought is
that both ends of the linear rail can be held in a pinch collar so the
swing end can just be machined straight.Â* Loosen the collars.Â* Adjust
the position, and lock it in place.Â* I know it may be a bit fiddley, but
nothing a brass hammer can't be used to adjust.Â* If I need to use a
different swing end bracket I can unbolt the collar from the bracket it
is on, remove the linear rod and replace it with a longer or shorter
one, and slide the collar and mount on to line up with the desired swing
end bracket.Â* The best part is that as long as I record everything in my
notebook I don't have to make everything at once.Â* Just the part I need
right now.Â* I could of course just use 1 swing end bracket, and have
three sets of mounting holes, but I think if I have to do much of this
work I'd like to leave the brackets in place, and just remove the
bracket on the cross slide and the linear rail and its mounts when not
in use.Â* It would make setups much faster when I need it, and I don't
think the adjustable and pivot brackets would be in the way when the
rail is off.Â* They might catch some chips, but that's about it.




P.S. The taper requirement in this case is not super precise so I could
probably get away with setting up and using the compound in 3 or 4 setup
positions and carefully blending in the ends of the cuts, but if it
works out I'll wind up making a bunch of them, and I'd like to be able
to reduce the cost (in time) for larger orders. The materials machines
nicely and fast (416 stainless) so I could do them very fast if I could
take the finish cut in one pass with the power feed.

On 12/5/2017 10:58 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
On 12/5/2017 10:52 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
I've been playing with the idea of making a taper attachment for
PM1440 for a while, but because most of the stuff I do is within the
range of the compound I have just been using that.Â* Well, a buddy of
mine asked me to make some longer tapers yesterday and he's willing to
pay a fair rate, so I move that up to "next project" status.

I don't really want to remove the back splash from the lathe, so here
is my thought.Â* Put the pivot support near the head with the pivot
center as close to exactly halfway between the bed and the splash
guard.Â* The back not the one over the chuck.Â* Then make two or three
swing ends. Maybe one at about 8 inches for short steep tapers, one at
20 inches,and one at the full end of the bed for really long tapers.
My thought is that both ends of the linear rail can be held in a pinch
collar so the swing end can just be machined straight.Â* Loosen the
collars.Â* Adjust the position, and lock it in place.Â* I know it may be
a bit fiddley, but nothing a brass hammer can't be used to adjust.Â* If
I need to use a different swing end bracket I can unbolt the collar
from the bracket it is on, remove the linear rod and replace it with a
longer or shorter one, and slide the collar and mount on to line up
with the desired swing end bracket.Â* The best part is that as long as
I record everything in my notebook I don't have to make everything at
once.Â* Just the part I need right now.Â* I could of course just use 1
swing end bracket, and have three sets of mounting holes, but I think
if I have to do much of this work I'd like to leave the brackets in
place, and just remove the bracket on the cross slide and the linear
rail and its mounts when not in use.Â* It would make setups much faster
when I need it, and I don't think the adjustable and pivot brackets
would be in the way when the rail is off.Â* They might catch some
chips, but that's about it.




P.S.Â* The taper requirement in this case is not super precise so I could
probably get away with setting up and using the compound in 3 or 4 setup
positions and carefully blending in the ends of the cuts, but if it
works out I'll wind up making a bunch of them, and I'd like to be able
to reduce the cost (in time) for larger orders.Â* The materials machines
nicely and fast (416 stainless) so I could do them very fast if I could
take the finish cut in one pass with the power feed.


P.P.S Its something I would do while the CNC mills are tied up running
jobs and my next jobs are CAMed up and ready to go.

On 05/12/17 17:52, Bob La Londe wrote:
I've been playing with the idea of making a taper attachment for
PM1440 for a while, but because most of the stuff I do is within the
range of the compound I have just been using that.Â* Well, a buddy of
mine asked me to make some longer tapers yesterday and he's willing to
pay a fair rate, so I move that up to "next project" status.

I don't really want to remove the back splash from the lathe, so here
is my thought.Â* Put the pivot support near the head with the pivot
center as close to exactly halfway between the bed and the splash
guard.Â* The back not the one over the chuck.Â* Then make two or three
swing ends. Maybe one at about 8 inches for short steep tapers, one at
20 inches,and one at the full end of the bed for really long tapers.Â*
My thought is that both ends of the linear rail can be held in a pinch
collar so the swing end can just be machined straight.Â* Loosen the
collars.Â* Adjust the position, and lock it in place.Â* I know it may be
a bit fiddley, but nothing a brass hammer can't be used to adjust.Â* If
I need to use a different swing end bracket I can unbolt the collar
from the bracket it is on, remove the linear rod and replace it with a
longer or shorter one, and slide the collar and mount on to line up
with the desired swing end bracket.Â* The best part is that as long as
I record everything in my notebook I don't have to make everything at
once.Â* Just the part I need right now.Â* I could of course just use 1
swing end bracket, and have three sets of mounting holes, but I think
if I have to do much of this work I'd like to leave the brackets in
place, and just remove the bracket on the cross slide and the linear
rail and its mounts when not in use.Â* It would make setups much faster
when I need it, and I don't think the adjustable and pivot brackets
would be in the way when the rail is off.Â* They might catch some
chips, but that's about it.


What is the diameter of the material and length of the taper. I made a
fixture some years ago to turn a long taper on 1/4" material over about
8" without a normal taper turning attachment and it worked great, some
details here http://www.metal-arts.co.uk/jacks/index.html . It could be
adapted for larger material but relied on the flexibility of the rod so
may not scale up much.

On 12/5/2017 12:13 PM, David Billington wrote:
On 05/12/17 17:52, Bob La Londe wrote:
I've been playing with the idea of making a taper attachment for
PM1440 for a while, but because most of the stuff I do is within the
range of the compound I have just been using that.Â* Well, a buddy of
mine asked me to make some longer tapers yesterday and he's willing to
pay a fair rate, so I move that up to "next project" status.

I don't really want to remove the back splash from the lathe, so here
is my thought.Â* Put the pivot support near the head with the pivot
center as close to exactly halfway between the bed and the splash
guard.Â* The back not the one over the chuck.Â* Then make two or three
swing ends. Maybe one at about 8 inches for short steep tapers, one at
20 inches,and one at the full end of the bed for really long tapers.
My thought is that both ends of the linear rail can be held in a pinch
collar so the swing end can just be machined straight.Â* Loosen the
collars.Â* Adjust the position, and lock it in place.Â* I know it may be
a bit fiddley, but nothing a brass hammer can't be used to adjust.Â* If
I need to use a different swing end bracket I can unbolt the collar
from the bracket it is on, remove the linear rod and replace it with a
longer or shorter one, and slide the collar and mount on to line up
with the desired swing end bracket.Â* The best part is that as long as
I record everything in my notebook I don't have to make everything at
once.Â* Just the part I need right now.Â* I could of course just use 1
swing end bracket, and have three sets of mounting holes, but I think
if I have to do much of this work I'd like to leave the brackets in
place, and just remove the bracket on the cross slide and the linear
rail and its mounts when not in use.Â* It would make setups much faster
when I need it, and I don't think the adjustable and pivot brackets
would be in the way when the rail is off.Â* They might catch some
chips, but that's about it.


What is the diameter of the material and length of the taper. I made a
fixture some years ago to turn a long taper on 1/4" material over about
8" without a normal taper turning attachment and it worked great, some
details here http://www.metal-arts.co.uk/jacks/index.html . It could be
adapted for larger material but relied on the flexibility of the rod so
may not scale up much.


While the taper does not have to be exact the finish has to be pretty
smooth. Figured to finish pass with vertical shear then polish. There
is some flex on this part. The overall length is 10.75 inches. The
tapered portion is about 10 inches tapering from .578 to about .735. It
will flex a lot less than your 1/4 inch rod.

On 12/5/2017 10:52 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
I've been playing with the idea of making a taper attachment for PM1440
for a while, but because most of the stuff I do is within the range of
the compound I have just been using that.Â* Well, a buddy of mine asked
me to make some longer tapers yesterday and he's willing to pay a fair
rate, so I move that up to "next project" status.

I don't really want to remove the back splash from the lathe, so here is
my thought.Â* Put the pivot support near the head with the pivot center
as close to exactly halfway between the bed and the splash guard.Â* The
back not the one over the chuck.Â* Then make two or three swing ends.
Maybe one at about 8 inches for short steep tapers, one at 20 inches,and
one at the full end of the bed for really long tapers.Â* My thought is
that both ends of the linear rail can be held in a pinch collar so the
swing end can just be machined straight.Â* Loosen the collars.Â* Adjust
the position, and lock it in place.Â* I know it may be a bit fiddley, but
nothing a brass hammer can't be used to adjust.Â* If I need to use a
different swing end bracket I can unbolt the collar from the bracket it
is on, remove the linear rod and replace it with a longer or shorter
one, and slide the collar and mount on to line up with the desired swing
end bracket.Â* The best part is that as long as I record everything in my
notebook I don't have to make everything at once.Â* Just the part I need
right now.Â* I could of course just use 1 swing end bracket, and have
three sets of mounting holes, but I think if I have to do much of this
work I'd like to leave the brackets in place, and just remove the
bracket on the cross slide and the linear rail and its mounts when not
in use.Â* It would make setups much faster when I need it, and I don't
think the adjustable and pivot brackets would be in the way when the
rail is off.Â* They might catch some chips, but that's about it.




Well, my idea turned out to be not so clever. I can't just leave the
brackets for the adjustable end of my taper turning attachment on the
lathe. I have a DRO bracket on the carriage that would hit them. I
guess I'll just have to pick some good places for mounting it and plan
to remove it when its not in use. Oh, well.