Quarantine Projects!

Ok, I mounted the taper jig up to the lathe and made a taper!

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It worked pretty well. At least it functioned like it should. The taper was set at 4 degrees I think and cut into a 3/4" round aluminum bar.

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The taper came out a little bit steppy but I think that's from my choice of tool. If I recall they usually recommend a tool with little to no top rake for aluminum but I didn't feel like grinding an aluminum tool.

But overall I'm happy with it. I didn't do any indicting or anything, just checked that it works like it should. On the off chance that someday I need to cut a specific taper I'll have to set it up more carefully. Maybe I'll play around with it and try to hit a specific taper just for practice, couldn't hurt.

After messing around with that I cleaned up the lathe. Oiled all the oiler cups and wiped it all down with WD-40.
 
Looks like your work paid off! I'd try turning some MT#2 or #3 tapers for practice (because Atlas), you may just end up finding taper stubs or adapters on hand useful for future tooling projects!

Edit: Wow, how tight of a space do you have that lathe shoehorned into?
 
Weldo said:
I came this close to buying a lot of old graver tools on ebay last night.
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The old gravers are nice looking for sure, but you can come up with fairly simple ones as well without getting fancy. These are a couple of mine that a friend gave me, he did a lot of NW Coast carving and such and the gravers worked well for fine detail in bone and antler.

-frank

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francist said:
The old gravers are nice looking for sure, but you can come up with fairly simple ones as well without getting fancy. These are a couple of mine that a friend gave me, he did a lot of NW Coast carving and such and the gravers worked well for fine detail in bone and antler.
Click to expand...

Neat tools! Very medieval looking!

pontiac428 said:
Edit: Wow, how tight of a space do you have that lathe shoehorned into?
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I'm working in a basement so space is tight for sure! I've managed to carve out a decent chunk for a workshop. Everything in my shop has to come down the stairs so I'm limited by that a good bit...
 
Hey, would you guys leave that taper attachment on the lathe or remove it until it's needed? This one bolts on pretty quick but I wonder if I could leave it in place, just remove the bed clamp. Any possible issues you could think of?
 
To make your engraving stand out, treat the part with cold blueing then polish off the top surface. The blueing stays in the lines and is quite tough. Have done it on dials, its lasted for years.
I leave my taper attachments on all time.
Greg
 
f350ca said:
I leave my taper attachments on all time.
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Right on. It makes sense to leave it on, especially on bigger lathes, you wouldn't remove it every time. Maybe the extra mass on the carriage will help with parting operations!
 
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