Adding taper to lathes

[FlyFishn]

I've looked up some taper attachments for various lathes and the theory of them is pretty easy to understand.

Has anyone home-brewed their own taper attachment?

I would imagine for a lathe that doesn't have that as an "option" already designed in to the carriage and cross feed it would likely be a lot of work - namely adding the telescoping ability to the cross feed lead screw.

Just curious.

 

[ThinWoodsman]

There are several. I've seen a few in various Village Press Projects books (love that series - great reading for the deck during this fine weather).

They are very similar to template followers, which are more common in wood lathes but have been done on metal lathes. Basically the cross slide lead screw is removed so that it floats on the dovetails. The taper guide, or the template, is bolted to the rear ways. A strong bar is bolted to the cross slide and traces along the edge of the taper guide/template.

Haven't had a need for one yet, but maybe one of these days/years...