In my playing around I often watch videos on YouTube in the morning
while I have my coffee, or at night when I can't sleep. A lot of them
have some good information in them even if some of it is a little odd or
even sometimes wrong. I try to take what is good and move on.

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

On 12/11/2017 11:02 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
In my playing around I often watch videos on YouTube in the morning
while I have my coffee, or at night when I can't sleep.Â* A lot of them
have some good information in them even if some of it is a little odd or
even sometimes wrong.Â* I try to take what is good and move on.

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers."Â* You put a boring head in the tail
stock.Â* For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head.Â* I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.



You know, probably the easiest way is to put two pins in it and level
the two pines to each and to the lathe bed. My machinist level will
probably get me close enough.

On 11/12/17 18:02, Bob La Londe wrote:
In my playing around I often watch videos on YouTube in the morning
while I have my coffee, or at night when I can't sleep.Â* A lot of them
have some good information in them even if some of it is a little odd
or even sometimes wrong.Â* I try to take what is good and move on.

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers."Â* You put a boring head in the tail
stock.Â* For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head.Â* I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my
lathe.

You can buy centres which can be offset for just this purpose such as
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Engineers-...d/152801807404
..

On Monday, December 11, 2017 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-8, Bob La Londe wrote:

turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock....
How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Stack of 1-2-3 blocks and an adjustable parallel on the lathe bed?
.... to adjust a boring head orientation, that is.

If it's just a ball center, the offset adjust of the tailstock ought to be accurate enough.

On Mon, 11 Dec 2017 13:56:21 -0800 (PST), whit3rd
wrote:

On Monday, December 11, 2017 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-8, Bob La Londe wrote:

turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock....
How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Stack of 1-2-3 blocks and an adjustable parallel on the lathe bed?
... to adjust a boring head orientation, that is.

If it's just a ball center, the offset adjust of the tailstock ought to be accurate enough.

Back in the day people turned tapers between centers (and also aligned
the head and tail stocks the same way).

I used to turn rifle barrels that way and it goes without saying that
the 0.D. and the bore would be concentric.
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!" LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!" LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was. g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody is
watching me or paying me to do it.

--
Ed Huntress

On 12 Dec 2017 21:31:53 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

They used to sell "test bars" to do this. Hardened steel bars to be
mounted between centers and then you could mount a dial indicator on
the carriage and run the carriage back and forth. The test bars were,
of course, exactly the same diameter for their entire length.

Back in the day, they weren't considered "tricks". Just common
knowledge in the trade :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:04 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!" LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was. g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody is
watching me or paying me to do it.

In the Air Force shops there used to be a joke - maybe it actually
happened. The inspector comes in the shop and one guy is just sitting
there staring off into space and a second guy is frantically turning
pages in the Machinery's Handbook and scribbling numbers on a piece of
paper.

The Inspector marks the guy staring off into space as "Not Working"
and the guy with the book as "Working" when in actual fact the guy
staring off into space was calculating the number and sequence of "set
ups" he would use to machine the part and the guy with the book was
trying to figure out how to cut threads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 12 Dec 2017 21:31:53 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.

The razor blade alignment trick works very nicely to get the tailstock
back into alignment.


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

"John B." wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:04 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick
for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the
tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the
boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball
bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes
sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I
missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the
boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might
be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for
my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the
tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side
of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the
tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you,
depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the
tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether
the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various
tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to
shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which
being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same
tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be
useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!"
LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might
have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had
already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when
I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head
idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead
cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things
looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was.
g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody
is
watching me or paying me to do it.

In the Air Force shops there used to be a joke - maybe it actually
happened. The inspector comes in the shop and one guy is just
sitting
there staring off into space and a second guy is frantically turning
pages in the Machinery's Handbook and scribbling numbers on a piece
of
paper.

The Inspector marks the guy staring off into space as "Not Working"
and the guy with the book as "Working" when in actual fact the guy
staring off into space was calculating the number and sequence of
"set
ups" he would use to machine the part and the guy with the book was
trying to figure out how to cut threads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A former Air Force repairman told me that when he had nothing to fix
he wandered around carrying a clipboard as though he was an inspector,
so no one would dare bother him.
-jsw

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 7:40:45 PM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On 12 Dec 2017 21:31:53 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

They used to sell "test bars" to do this. Hardened steel bars to be
mounted between centers and then you could mount a dial indicator on
the carriage and run the carriage back and forth. The test bars were,
of course, exactly the same diameter for their entire length.

Back in the day, they weren't considered "tricks". Just common
knowledge in the trade :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A fishtail gauge (or any piece of flat stock) pinched between the centers will quickly indicate any misalignment.

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:15:31 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"John B." wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:04 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick
for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the
tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the
boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball
bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes
sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I
missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the
boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might
be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for
my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the
tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side
of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the
tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you,
depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the
tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether
the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various
tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to
shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which
being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same
tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be
useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!"
LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might
have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had
already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when
I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head
idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead
cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things
looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was.
g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody
is
watching me or paying me to do it.

In the Air Force shops there used to be a joke - maybe it actually
happened. The inspector comes in the shop and one guy is just
sitting
there staring off into space and a second guy is frantically turning
pages in the Machinery's Handbook and scribbling numbers on a piece
of
paper.

The Inspector marks the guy staring off into space as "Not Working"
and the guy with the book as "Working" when in actual fact the guy
staring off into space was calculating the number and sequence of
"set
ups" he would use to machine the part and the guy with the book was
trying to figure out how to cut threads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A former Air Force repairman told me that when he had nothing to fix
he wandered around carrying a clipboard as though he was an inspector,
so no one would dare bother him.
-jsw


Yup, it works. At least to some extent. A bloke with clean fatigues
and a clipboard is viewed with a certain amount of reserve - what is
HE checking on - and usually left alone.

Of course, if he happens to meet his boss...
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 05:51:15 -0800 (PST), rangerssuck
wrote:

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 7:40:45 PM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On 12 Dec 2017 21:31:53 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you, depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

They used to sell "test bars" to do this. Hardened steel bars to be
mounted between centers and then you could mount a dial indicator on
the carriage and run the carriage back and forth. The test bars were,
of course, exactly the same diameter for their entire length.

Back in the day, they weren't considered "tricks". Just common
knowledge in the trade :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A fishtail gauge (or any piece of flat stock) pinched between the centers will quickly indicate any misalignment.

Not to be picky but to what level of accuracy? If you have, oh say 2
feet between centers then you can align them to (depending on your
micrometer) perhaps a 1/10 or less. With a center gauge?
--
Cheers,

Schweik

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 4:57:58 PM UTC-5, Bob La Londe wrote:


I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead cheap.
I reckon I can le I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.
vel that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

If you are concerned about the boring head not being installed exactly horizontal, try setting it by eyeball and then turning a taper. If the boring head is not installed exactly horizontal , it will not make much of an error in the taper.

Dan

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:15:31 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"John B." wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:04 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick
for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the
tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the
boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball
bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes
sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I
missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the
boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might
be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for
my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the
tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side
of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the
tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you,
depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the
tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether
the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various
tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to
shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which
being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same
tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be
useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!"
LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might
have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had
already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when
I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head
idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead
cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things
looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was.
g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody
is
watching me or paying me to do it.

In the Air Force shops there used to be a joke - maybe it actually
happened. The inspector comes in the shop and one guy is just
sitting
there staring off into space and a second guy is frantically turning
pages in the Machinery's Handbook and scribbling numbers on a piece
of
paper.

The Inspector marks the guy staring off into space as "Not Working"
and the guy with the book as "Working" when in actual fact the guy
staring off into space was calculating the number and sequence of
"set
ups" he would use to machine the part and the guy with the book was
trying to figure out how to cut threads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A former Air Force repairman told me that when he had nothing to fix
he wandered around carrying a clipboard as though he was an inspector,
so no one would dare bother him.
-jsw

Chap I used to work for got bored one day so he and a buddy each put
ten sheets of blank copy paper in a new file folder and visited every
office in the provincial gov't department headquarters complex where
they worked - took a full week to complete their "inspection"!

"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 7:40:45 PM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On 12 Dec 2017 21:31:53 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"

wrote:

On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick
for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the
tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the
boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball
bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes
sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I
missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the
boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might
be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for
my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the
tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side of
the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the
tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you,
depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the tailstock
or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various
tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to shift
the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which
being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same
tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be
useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

They used to sell "test bars" to do this. Hardened steel bars to be
mounted between centers and then you could mount a dial indicator
on
the carriage and run the carriage back and forth. The test bars
were,
of course, exactly the same diameter for their entire length.

Back in the day, they weren't considered "tricks". Just common
knowledge in the trade :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A fishtail gauge (or any piece of flat stock) pinched between the
centers will quickly indicate any misalignment.

I use scrap aluminum from the tray under the shear for that to avoid
damaging the points. Depending on their condition - mine are either
second-hand or Enco - you should be able to align the centers closely
enough to center-drill both ends of some rod stock.

With the rod held between centers, clean up the eccentricity for about
1/2" at both ends, then take a finish pass on both ends without
changing the cutting radius, flipping the rod to make both cuts at the
tailstock end.

You now have a test bar that should be (check it) the same diameter at
both ends, which you can use with a dial indicator to center the
tailstock more accurately.

This is a commercial product that can serve as a lathe test bar:
http://www.shars.com/3-precision-cylinder-square

A shop-made one is more convenient if you turn it down in the middle
to clear the dial indicator.
-jsw

On 2017-12-14, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 7:40:45 PM UTC-5, John B. wrote:

To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

They used to sell "test bars" to do this. Hardened steel bars to be
mounted between centers and then you could mount a dial indicator
on
the carriage and run the carriage back and forth. The test bars
were,
of course, exactly the same diameter for their entire length.

Back in the day, they weren't considered "tricks". Just common
knowledge in the trade :-)

[ ... ]

I use scrap aluminum from the tray under the shear for that to avoid
damaging the points. Depending on their condition - mine are either
second-hand or Enco - you should be able to align the centers closely
enough to center-drill both ends of some rod stock.

With the rod held between centers, clean up the eccentricity for about
1/2" at both ends, then take a finish pass on both ends without
changing the cutting radius, flipping the rod to make both cuts at the
tailstock end.

Good!

You now have a test bar that should be (check it) the same diameter at
both ends, which you can use with a dial indicator to center the
tailstock more accurately.

This is a commercial product that can serve as a lathe test bar:
http://www.shars.com/3-precision-cylinder-square

I don't think so, based on the two cylindrical squares which I
have.

1) The center holes at the ends are as cast, and the square
is not machined from those. It is ground so the cylindrical
surface is truly square to the rim (also ground), and is for
sitting on a surface plate to provide a true vertical from a
true horizontal of the surface plate.

Note that B&S made one which was ground intentionally a tiny bit
off square -- and there were etched lines on the surface
representing 0.0001" offset points as you rotated the square.
(Or, if you set it the other end down, it would be truly square.

2) The handle mounted on one end has no center hole at all, so
mounting it between centers would not work at all, even if the
hole at the other end were a true center.

A shop-made one is more convenient if you turn it down in the middle
to clear the dial indicator.

Once you have the precision reference ends complete, yes. But
be careful to not apply enough force to bend the bar.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:52:32 -0500, Gerry
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:15:31 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"John B." wrote in message
. ..
On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:04 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick
for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the
tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the
boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball
bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes
sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I
missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the
boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might
be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for
my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the
tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side
of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the
tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you,
depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the
tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether
the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various
tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to
shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which
being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same
tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be
useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!"
LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might
have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had
already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when
I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head
idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead
cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things
looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was.
g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody
is
watching me or paying me to do it.

In the Air Force shops there used to be a joke - maybe it actually
happened. The inspector comes in the shop and one guy is just
sitting
there staring off into space and a second guy is frantically turning
pages in the Machinery's Handbook and scribbling numbers on a piece
of
paper.

The Inspector marks the guy staring off into space as "Not Working"
and the guy with the book as "Working" when in actual fact the guy
staring off into space was calculating the number and sequence of
"set
ups" he would use to machine the part and the guy with the book was
trying to figure out how to cut threads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A former Air Force repairman told me that when he had nothing to fix
he wandered around carrying a clipboard as though he was an inspector,
so no one would dare bother him.
-jsw

Chap I used to work for got bored one day so he and a buddy each put
ten sheets of blank copy paper in a new file folder and visited every
office in the provincial gov't department headquarters complex where
they worked - took a full week to complete their "inspection"!

TFF, and so ironic & sad.

P.S: Um, what did their bosses say when they didn't shop up on the job
for a week?

--
A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full
description of a happy state in this world.
--John Locke

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 4:40:45 PM UTC-8, John B. wrote:

To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

Why bother? Can't you just base an indicator on the chuck or faceplate,
extend to the taper (internal socket) of the tailstock, and rotate the spindle
by hand, looking at the reading?

It's easy if the tailstock is near the spindle.

"whit3rd" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 4:40:45 PM UTC-8, John B. wrote:

To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

Why bother? Can't you just base an indicator on the chuck or faceplate,
extend to the taper (internal socket) of the tailstock, and rotate the
spindle
by hand, looking at the reading?

It's easy if the tailstock is near the spindle.

Coaxial indicator works great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJrPLOq1T6A

Best Regards
Tom.


---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On Thu, 14 Dec 2017 19:34:54 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:52:32 -0500, Gerry
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:15:31 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"John B." wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:04 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick
for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the
tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the
boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball
bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes
sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I
missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the
boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might
be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for
my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the
tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side
of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the
tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you,
depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the
tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether
the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various
tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to
shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which
being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same
tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be
useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!"
LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might
have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had
already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when
I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head
idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead
cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things
looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was.
g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody
is
watching me or paying me to do it.

In the Air Force shops there used to be a joke - maybe it actually
happened. The inspector comes in the shop and one guy is just
sitting
there staring off into space and a second guy is frantically turning
pages in the Machinery's Handbook and scribbling numbers on a piece
of
paper.

The Inspector marks the guy staring off into space as "Not Working"
and the guy with the book as "Working" when in actual fact the guy
staring off into space was calculating the number and sequence of
"set
ups" he would use to machine the part and the guy with the book was
trying to figure out how to cut threads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A former Air Force repairman told me that when he had nothing to fix
he wandered around carrying a clipboard as though he was an inspector,
so no one would dare bother him.
-jsw

Chap I used to work for got bored one day so he and a buddy each put
ten sheets of blank copy paper in a new file folder and visited every
office in the provincial gov't department headquarters complex where
they worked - took a full week to complete their "inspection"!

TFF, and so ironic & sad.

P.S: Um, what did their bosses say when they didn't shop up on the job
for a week?

I meant to write "show up".

--
A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full
description of a happy state in this world.
--John Locke

"whit3rd" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 4:40:45 PM UTC-8, John B. wrote:

To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

Why bother? Can't you just base an indicator on the chuck or
faceplate,
extend to the taper (internal socket) of the tailstock, and rotate
the spindle
by hand, looking at the reading?

It's easy if the tailstock is near the spindle.

Sure, on a new lathe. My SB 10L suffered the abuse of trade school
students from 1965 to 1991 and every alignment test gives a different
result. I have to take and measure several light finish cuts to sneak
up on the proper diameter.
-jsw

On 2017-12-15, whit3rd wrote:
On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 4:40:45 PM UTC-8, John B. wrote:

To align head and tail centers you simply mount a piece of stock
between centers and turn a length at the head stock end and then at
the tail stock end - using the same cross feed setting of course.
Adjust the tail stock, if necessary and repeat.

Why bother? Can't you just base an indicator on the chuck or
faceplate, extend to the taper (internal socket) of the tailstock, and
rotate the spindle by hand, looking at the reading?

yes, you can, and it is even easier with a "Blake Co-Ax", since
you can lay the anti-rotation lever against the bed, and start the
spindle rotating in back-gear and slowest RPM available. Then you
watch the needle wiggle (with the face facing you all the time) as you
adjust the tailstock offset screws to a minimum wiggle. (A brand new
high quality lathe will have the tailstock center slightly above the
headstock center to allow from wear. For a long time, it will wear
towards even better before it starts getting worse. (And a very slight
vertical offset won't make much difference in the workpiece diameter,
especially if the workpiece diameter is 0.250" or greater.

It's easy if the tailstock is near the spindle.

And the Blake Co-Ax works well with perhaps 10-12" between
headstock collet or chuck and tailstock ram socket.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
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--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Thu, 14 Dec 2017 19:34:54 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:52:32 -0500, Gerry
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:15:31 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"John B." wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:04 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:57:53 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

On 12/12/2017 2:31 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2017-12-11, Bob La Londe wrote:

I watched one the other day that was a sort of interesting trick
for
turning tapers "between centers." You put a boring head in the
tail
stock. For low angle tapers you can just put a center in the
boring
head, and for sharper angles you can use a cup with a ball
bearing in
the chuck and the boring head. I get all of that and it makes
sense.
What got me and the guy makign the video didn't show (or I
missed it) is:

How do you make sure the center or ball bearing cup in the
boring head
is on center vertically?

Perhaps put a level on the dovetail with it extended a bit?

Since I don't have to turn a lot of tapers I thought this might
be a
nice stop gap technique instead of making a taper attachment for
my lathe.

Many (though not all) lathes have provisions for offsetting the
tailstock to do taper turning between centers. You loosen the
tailstock
clamp to the bed, loosen a screw in the middle of the back side
of the
tailstock, and tighten the one in the front side to move the
tailstock
ram back. (Or the other way around, to move it towards you,
depending
on whether you want the big end of the taper towards the
tailstock or
the headstock.) With this, there is no question as to whether
the
height of the center is correct.

However, you need to come up with a way to set the tailstock
back on horizontal center when you are done. There are various
tricks
for this.

The two lathes which I have had which do not have this feature
are the Unimat SL-1000 (on that, you rotate the headstock to
shift the
tip back or forward), and the Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC, which
being a CNC
lathe, can do tapers without the trick. However, the same
tailstock is
used on the manual Compact-5, so there such a trick would be
useful.

Enjoy,
DoN.


Yeah, a couple folks have said, "Just offset the tail stock BOY!!!"
LOL.

I donwanna. LOL.

On the same work piece I need to have the tail stock in line, and
separately I need to be able to turn the longish taper. I might
have
mentioned I might need to do a few of them down the road. I had
already
resigned myself to building a guide rod style taper attachment when
I
ran across the other offset adapter ideas like the boring head
idea.
Then somebody pointed out the purpose built adapter that's dead
cheap.
I reckon I can level that faster than I can put a guide rod taper
attachment on the lathe.

I tend to spend way to much time thinking about these things
looking for
the easiest way to get a satisfactory result.


That is not a bad thing. It will save you from doing a lot of
time-consuming or expensive things that you'll want to kick yourself
for when you finally *do* realize what the easy or cheap way was.
g

These days, I just sit and think about little jobs before tackling
them, if it's something I haven't done before. Fortunately, nobody
is
watching me or paying me to do it.

In the Air Force shops there used to be a joke - maybe it actually
happened. The inspector comes in the shop and one guy is just
sitting
there staring off into space and a second guy is frantically turning
pages in the Machinery's Handbook and scribbling numbers on a piece
of
paper.

The Inspector marks the guy staring off into space as "Not Working"
and the guy with the book as "Working" when in actual fact the guy
staring off into space was calculating the number and sequence of
"set
ups" he would use to machine the part and the guy with the book was
trying to figure out how to cut threads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

A former Air Force repairman told me that when he had nothing to fix
he wandered around carrying a clipboard as though he was an inspector,
so no one would dare bother him.
-jsw

Chap I used to work for got bored one day so he and a buddy each put
ten sheets of blank copy paper in a new file folder and visited every
office in the provincial gov't department headquarters complex where
they worked - took a full week to complete their "inspection"!

TFF, and so ironic & sad.

P.S: Um, what did their bosses say when they didn't shop up on the job
for a week?
But they did show up, slack time so they did their work and still had
time for "inspection".