Tapers on Hobby Lathes - How to make them and why!

[@geckoproductions4128]

Dear Quinn: thank you for your scrupulously detailed, unhurried descriptions of how to do things. Sometimes the other utube teachers forget the very front end of that learning curve, which can be very steep. Love your videos, thank you.

[@eTraxx]

Excellent!! I am impressed not only by your knowledge but your ability to teach us in such a clear and enjoyable way.

[@SpikedaStampede]

After twelve years working in a machine shop, I went back to school to finish my BS in engineering. While there I worked on multiple projects as club machinist-for-hire. Every afternoon I would go to the shop to start working, and it never failed that someone had messed with the tailstock. Aligning it day after day, I got very good, and very annoyed! They had been demonstrating and practicing the tailstock offset tapers in classes, but not requiring students to realign everything. An essential skill, as you say, a machinist should not be afraid to learn. Thanks for the excellent demos!

[@dass1333]

One of my first projects was to cut a number 2 for my lathe. I had found a Jacobs chuck with a 3 taper. So with out having Quin to show me how I had to struggle a lot to get it mostly correct. Good thing the taper was the same so I had the angle built in. Stupid method of paper feeler gauge front and back till I was lined up tap tap. Yes I had no test indicator then. If I had seen your method 5 years ago I could have saved 27% of my hair. Thanks for the great instruction. Knowing a better way is always gooder.

[@TheBlackForestClockShop]

Quinn, I second the last comment! Your ability to hold the interest of a seasoned machinist yet inspire a newbie, amateur, beginner "like me", makes me feel like "I can do this"! Thanks for all your inspiring videos and articulate explanations so those of us not so experienced can advance. I'm very excited for the episodes I have not yet viewed!

[@davidhomer78]

It is 25 degrees in my workshop today. Too cold for a hobby machinist. Thank you for a vicarious machining experience.

[@peterhadfield873]

I recently spent a whole afternoon chasing acceptable tailstock alignment before discovering that the tailstock was 5 thou too low. I had to drink a tin of beer to get the right shim to correct it :-)

[@jackdawg4579]

the sacrifices we have to make for our hobby!

[@mpetersen6]

One reason its handy to have a pack of shim stock.

[@johannriedlberger4390]

you are lucky. too low is an easy fix. my tailstock was 0.3 mm too high. It took several bottles of beer to shim the headstock up :)

[@johannriedlberger4390]

@@mpetersen6 I abused a feeler gauge :)

[@markrainford1219]

Lucky it wasn't 125 thou too low eh?

[@Swampyankeehomestead]

Showed you to the Ex wife, she is now kinda interested in my hobby shop. After many years she referred to it as "his machine shop" instead of "he's in that shed as always." Thanks, keep doing what your doing. Your channel and Mr Pete's are my two go to channels.

[@michelled176]

Your videos inspire me to push my little hobby lathe and myself- something that can be intimidating as a beginner. Thanks, you are awesome!

[@DonMALOZI]

Your an excellent instructor. I been machining since 1976 and I learn from your vids!

[@brettterry7167]

Yay! My mill/lathe combo is on the way, and this process has been eating a way at me. I'm a crankshaft grinder, so I can follow you easily. This is great. Thanks!!!!!!!!!

[@stevelescom4336]

Great video . I made my first taper with compound method . Was not real great ,however I'm fortunate enough to have Cincinnati Cutter and Tool Grinder and was able to salvage me efforts !!!

[@bDwS27]

This is ridiculously good timing ! A project where I need to make a taper just came up and I had a plan on what I was going to do , but I always learn a lot from your videos and I am certain my project will turn out better now or at least be easier!

[@bertkutoob]

Sometimes KZbin's ability to pop something up at the right time is scary...! Scout's honour, I haven't used my lathe in years but was planning on making some tapers this coming weekend. And up this pops! How? I ask you, how did my mind get read...?

[@sharkrivermachine]

I came in from the shop and tuned into this video. I just completed a small production run (20 pieces) of Morse Taper no.1. You did a good explanation on the set up.

[@Ioughtaknowbetter]

Extremely cool. I have cut some long tapers on rifle barrels but I just went for what was pleasing to the eye, I never bothered much with the math. It's handy to know how to do it right!

[@IanBolton-i8h]

Thank you, great video and guidance, as always. A little while ago, I had to produce a very long taper, slightly steeper than MT3, on my little mini lathe. Offsetting the tail stock accurately was proving very difficult . My work around, which I'm sharing with you, was to put a boring head in the tailstock, and use the micrometer feed on the head to accurately offset the workpiece. The work was supported at tail using a greased ball bearing running in opposing centre dried holes. A drive dog was going to take up too much travel, so driving was achieved with a cut down ball end hex key in the chuck and a hex head cap screw inserted in the workpiece. End results were (surprisingly) satisfactory.

[@OnzeManInKazakhstan]

I love the guest appearance of This Old Tony at the end. Nice colab.

[@PeckerwoodIndustries]

I have had the exact same machine for nearly 20 years now. Was just making some 7/8-14 o-ring to 3/8 NPT adapters for my tractor hydraulics, and going to face off some precision hood spacers tonight. I ran CNC shops for several years, but cant justify buying them for home so will settle for finally putting DRO's on my home machines in the near future.

[@r1mein54]

You are correct - I have not realigned my tailstock. I did however manage to take the bend out of my lead screw that had a .012 bow in it - that saved me from paying $500.+ for a replacement.

[@MattOckendon]

Immaculate tutorial Quinn, thank you as always. When I think how much I've relied on tapers I'm ashamed of how poorly I understood them. Time for me to make some tool holding!

[@gridleycountryfordinc.4790]

Great timing. I just completed a 3” per foot taper using the compound. 7.125 degrees. I made a matching angle, used a magnet and aficed it to the compound to set it up accurately. Turned out perfect. I have never used the tail stock method. Well done, thank you

[@PuckFNT]

These videos are priceless - easy to follow, straight to the point, with great visuals and no annoying music or BS. Keep up the great work!

[@robertlark7751]

Excellent video as always. Make sure your indicator is touching the center of your part and use as thin an application of blue as possible to achieve the most accurate representation of contact.

[@mpetersen6]

And toss the Permatex. Dykem all the way. The Permatex is too oily.

[@jimsvideos7201]

Here I was just pondering making some soft-ish MT2 stubs; someone else had the idea of putting a center drill directly into one to save time tightening a chuck. Thank you for the clear, easy-to-absorb lesson 🙂

[@brucematthews6417]

For home shop use mild steel is fine. We tend to care for our stuff unlike students in a shool shop or workers in a plant environment. Some MT3 arbors I did in mild steel worked fine for many years on my old mill drill. So go for it!

[@kennethelwell8574]

Meanwhile...over at the mill... I do something similar, with a spotting drill, countersink, etc... in larger home-made sleeves that fit commonly used collets (3/8", 1/2") to save using the Jacobs chuck. Tool changes go faster without all that table lowering and raising, and moving away from the vise/job for clearance.

[@SW-ii5gg]

I used one I made for myself from unhardened 4140 at work for years , it was a MT5 for a #5 center drill if I remember correctly and it was in the same condition as the day I made after years of use.

[@codprawn]

My lathes are not small hobby ones but still love learning from your videos!

[@NitroTom91]

Hey Quinn. I just want to say thank you for putting up these videos. I bought a lathe just like yours but with a mill attached to it because of workshop space half a year ago. I am not totally clueless what I am doing but your videos certainly encourage me to not just go out and buy all the stuff you could have for it. Instead I see a lot of stuff here that is really inspiring. So I will try to make some tapers just after I finish my gear hobbing attachment project. You give me a lot of ideas and you save me not only some money but also a lot of trial and error.

[@xtphreak]

@NitroTom91 What machine did you get and where did you source it? I've been looking for a combo, almost pulled the pin on a PM1030 figuring it would be next year before I could get a benchtop mill. I'm very space constrained also. Thanks

[@NitroTom91]

@@xtphreak It is called Proficenter 700 BQV from the Bernardo brand. However the castings for these machines are all chinese ones despite a lot of different brandings. I strongly suggest to look for a machine with built-in lever actuated gearing for thread cutting instead of change gears though. That is a real pain I will solve by installing an electric leadscrew at some point. Good luck to you.

[@cameronmccreary4758]

I worked for John Martz Luger carbine maker when I was younger and did barrels on a taper attachment. A taper attachment is great to have when one needs to harden your work's taper and then go back and grind the taper to a near perfect size. Another nice thing about a taper attachment is when one has tapered a barrel and left areas for sight ramps and attachments near the chamber area; the barrel is ready for the dividing head and it's follow through machining on the same measure of taper on the milling machine.

[@chadking8542]

😢lathe bad finish

[@joelee2371]

I remember John Martz carbines; do I recall correctly that he was the fellow who would cut two Walther P38 frames in half and weld the thick halves into a .45 ACP fame? As a P38 owner this always fascinated me.

[@joshlikessurfing]

Can you add this video to your lathe skills playlist. Fits really well in the series. Thanks for the breakdown and education! KZbin skill masters deserve more regard than movie stars, i generally learn more practical information. Well, other than the golf instructional Happy Gilmore. Cheers! P. S. First found you on your lathe blog ages ago. What a joy to read.

[@patrickbramlett7515]

Thank you for the videos. I'm the old dog trying to learn new tricks and I really like how you show and explain things.

[@crichtonbruce4329]

A hack method I used was: I had a piece of factory Morse taper tooling that had center holes at both ends. I chucked it between centers and indicated in the compound angle with that. This resulted in piece with about 80% contact when blued up and tested which I was understandably quite pleased with myself for. I'm dyslectic so math and I are not best of friends, so I end up trying anything to avoid too much math.

[@davidtaylor6124]

Pretty sure that is how I did the only morse taper I ever turned so far too.

[@crichtonbruce4329]

@@davidtaylor6124 I also turned a bunch of tool holders for our #30 taper milling machine. I roughed every thing out, and, as they were being turned between centers, I could take them off the lathe and check them against the mill spindle with bluing until I had proper setting on the compound. I then turned a fixture for the lathe that matched the mill taper to hold all the rough tool holders in the lathe for final turning. Again, I was quite pleased with myself!

[@tweedspeculum6820]

So the other day my wife had hung some pictures in our living room and when I got home from work she asked me if they looked straight.. I told her that they looked "Dead Nutz" to me. She looked at me with a puzzled grin and finished putting her stuff away... Thanks Blondie! Oh, btw.. your videos are awesome!!!

[@najroe]

as instrumentmaker we had centers with dovetails (think boringhead with a taper in place of cutter), it used gauge blocks to set ofset (then lock the slide), so fairly accurate as long as you didn't forget to use a level to get it parallel to the cross slide travel.

[@jdheath5054]

You don't know what you can do until you try, and a lot of times that is all you need just try.

[@Evan-e-cent]

Quinn, your method of using the dial gauge to set the taper is great to see. I have done it by calculating the amount of offset required to give the desired offset and used that to move the tailstock across. I even wrote a computer program to calculate the offset, but with your method you really didn't need to do any calculations! Wonderfully simple. That is the art of a professional machinist!

[@DavidLindes]

Huh. Moving the tailstock to get the angle........ I'd not have thought of that, I think! Very cool!

[@charleshill506]

THank you for these videos. I have watched so many of them over the last year or two. You are a natural teacher and very interesting to listen to. This makes me want to go out and align my lathe but I only have wood tools!

[@johnstonewall917]

A long time ago (55 years to be more exact) I was taught to make a taper on a lathe but using a grinding wheel fixed on the compound slide rather that a tool bit. It produced a brilliant surface finish! The use of grinding wheels on lathes does not seem to be popular anymore but I would appreciate a video on this technique if possible using a Dremel rotary tool or a similar device.

[@MachiningandMicrowaves]

I made a toolpost grinder using a 600 watt 12000 rpm motor with a VFD. The bearings in it are remarkably good and it comes with an ER11 collet, so like a muscly version of a Dremel in a machined aluminium shell. I don't use it often but it produces a surprisingly good finish. Next plan is to add a proper spindle based on a very long shaft ER16 chuck with serious bearings and stepped pulleys, but for now, this simple thing works well. I'd love to see Quinn make one, it's a niche tool, but the finish is just to die for.

[@Evan-e-cent]

@@MachiningandMicrowaves I have just finished mounting a 2HP 5300 RPM treadmill motor in place of the cross slide so that the motor shaft is on center. The grinding or milling tool mounts directly onto the spindle shaft with an adapter. I made the adapter with an internal 16 degree taper for an ER32 collet holder, and threaded the outside to take the nut from my other ER32 collet holder. The other end of the adapter has a hole turned to match the motor shaft. I plan to make a KZbin video about that. It could be fitted with a PWM DC speed controller eventually.

[@Kaboomf]

There's uses for that, but one has to be careful in preventing the abrasive dust from getting into the ways. I recently used a tiny grinder to true up a sprung three jaw that had considerable runout. Made a holder for a cheap pen-sized air grinder that takes Dremel bits, the whole grinder has a small enough diameter to clear the inside of my chuck so I could grind the whole depth of the jaws. The cheap grinder doesn't have the greatest bearings, but it worked well enough. Preloaded the jaws before grinding of course, with three bits of flat iron clamped between the angled sides of the jaws. It took a while because I could only take the tiniest of cuts without stalling the grinder, but now my "worn out" chuck runs dead nuts true again. I think I can forsee some other uses for that grinder attachment, like reshaping broken drill bits into various tooling.

[@robertprice4286]

Thanks so much for this! I made a center indicator for my 4" rotary table, and cut a short MT2 taper using your cross slide method. It worked great. You are a great teacher!!

[@donstoddard4295]

this was a most valuable tutorial. because I'm an attachment freak and will be making my lathe do everything possible . thank you Quinn!

[@howder1951]

Good one Quinn, you are right, I can't remember the last time i checked the lathe, also it donned on me how I would like to have a couple of extra tapered shafts ready for when the moment calls for it. Enjoyed, cheers to you and le chat!

[@jallapeno242]

Great info. A tip if you ever will use a wedge to remove the taper, turn the end a little smaller, that way the fit wont be destroyed if the edge is deformed by the wedge

[@karlmansson8319]

One thing that was causing me some grief on my first tapers was the importance of tool center height. You really need to nail it or you'll cut a parabolic curve instead of a straight taper. I chased my own tail a bit with setting the taper up before I realized what was going on. No matter how careful you are setting the taper on the compound you can get a bad blue up with little contact if the surface is curved. Same goes for measuring the initial taper: if the indicator tip isn't exactly on center you will measure a parabolic curve. One workaround for the tool center height issue is to use a tool with a slanted cutting edge that makes an oblique contact with the work. That way you are cutting along an edge and not a point. Usually not desireable but it will save your bacon in this case. Tilt the cutting edge towards the chuck. Thanks for a good breakdown! As usual.

[@ScootyPuff_Jr]

I just want to brag that my turret lathe uses straight shank tooling, which definitely isn't as accurate, but a heck of a lot easier to make. Good video as always!

[@brucematthews6417]

Heartily agree getting over the fear aspect and how easy it really is to do the re-alignment. Two things I learned when doing some MT3 tapers a few years back. First is that making a stub for the eventual tang or threaded draw bar hole on the end gave me more room for the cutting tool when working the small end at the live center. And we need that stub for one of those jobs anyway. Might as well put it in early and make it useful, right? The second thing I picked up was thanks to not having any prussian blue at the time. So instead I put three or four strokes of felt marker on the taper, set it in a socket very lightly and twisted a half turn. This wore off the marker on the high spots and I was able to use a wide lathe file to dress these wider spots down by that last tenth or so. A couple of repeats on this step and I was getting at least SOME marker removal along the whole length. This made for a very easy lock to the socket. One area of error I did pick up is that when using the indicator on the taper it was incredibly important to have the ball end of the stem dead on the center height. Even a small error in this will lead to the taper being off by a bit. But only when using a taper as the sample. For a cylinder like your second offset tailstock method it's not an issue. Hope that helps everyone.

[@Scoopy2022]

After yet another review of your excellent machining instructional skills, I'm going to head off to my shop to attempt to build a spindle for my obsolete benchtop drill press! Thanks for the info Quinn!!!

[@alanjenkins5003]

Hi Quinn, great video. I think it's worth mentioning that the indicator should be set as close as possible to the centre height of the sample. if not you won't achieve the exact angle. The further off centre height the more inaccurate. Or you could use an indicator with a large flat surface. keep up the good work.

[@GrayCo]

Great video. Presumptions will often get people in trouble when machining. When turning between centers, presumably, the accuracy of the newly tapered MT2 part will be better than the accuracy of the tailstock's existing MT2 taper.

[@jackotoole2265]

Thanks for another great video. Your turning between centers method also has the advantage of removing the effect of any runout at the headstock end caused by any inbalance in the drive dog. On my lathe I need to adjust the tailstock to cut paralell, but using that single setup to measure and then cut a taper produces a great result.

[@lennardchapman4360]

Dear Quinn, thank you I really enjoyed your taper turning, you are amazing

[@backwardsmachining7526]

You got me... I dont think I have ever aligned my tail stock...or even checked it for that fact lol.

[@grahameblankley3813]

Very interesting video, when I make Morse tapers I don't use the tailstock, just use a Morse tapers sleeve & when blueing it you can give it a twist it will give much better result as a test, hope this helps 🇬🇧👍.

[@FCleff]

Thank you for this helpful, well-made video. As a suggestion, I've found that radiused center drills (they have an "R" as a suffix) produce center holes that greatly reduce wear on the lathe centers, a common issue with this taper turning technique when straight 60 degree center holes are used.

[@OmeMachining]

That's what normally being used when turning tapers between centers. Especially when doing larger shafts that weight allot. Else it will destroy the center quickly.

[@FCleff]

@@OmeMachining Yup.

[@laptopdragon]

Enjoy your videos more and more. Eloquent voice and motivational topics with tangible results.

[@uranium_beaver]

I personally think you're one of the best machining teacher on yt. And no dobut you totally dominate in less-than-a-locomotive-lathe share. Keep going, you're doing great!

[@larry400]

Maybe a video on lapping the tapered parts for better fit. No Yahtzee after the cutoff drop. Your videos ares always amazing.

[@JanEvertZondag]

Thanks for the new video, may you live long and prosper too :)

[@bernieshort6311]

Happy new year to you Quinn from England UK. Thank you for this video and especially for something else you always do. What is that I hear you ask? Well I'll tell you. You always list below all the tools that you use and where you bought them along with any links to previous instruction related videos that you have produced. I've changed computers and lost all my old bookmarks because I didn't back anything up and I wanted and found the original lathe alignment video you did which was very useful to me. Thank you for the professional way in which you conduct your tutorials on this channel. These two videos are just the ticket for my next job, thank you once again. I'll also take this time to wish all your KZbin followers a happy new year as well.

[@peterspain3827]

Hi Quinn Youve made my mind up.Im gonna use the tailstock method to turn the con rod on the Stuart beam engine simply because using the cross slide, As you pointed out so well, limits the length of taper.As this is for aesthetics only it works well and,as you pointed out,helps get me used to checking and resetting the tailstock. Which i do all the time🤭 All the best and kind regards

[@kmoecub]

A full-contact taper is a disadvantage in any application where you need the parts to come apart without the use of a puller or press. Nicely done guide to making tapers.

[@OmeMachining]

It should seat properly. That's why most tools with taper is made to be pushed outwards from the taper, from the back. It should be the taper holding the tool. Not a drawbar or like drills, the tap in the end. The taper should be strong enough to keep it in place by itself.

[@twm4259]

Your testing of course also depends upon the accuracy of the socket and hobby lathes can also be less than great in that regard. May you also live long and prosper so we can see a whole lot more of your excellent instruction!

[@sharkbaitsurfer]

Better than a bought one IMO! - you're a magnificent instructor

[@ImTimJames329]

Thanks for the vid and explanation. I do "SOME" machining to make parts for farm equipment. Im still a noob, and looks like I shall grab another dial indicator to do the offset tail stock. I like your videos, they help ALOT, Thanks again.

[@reinierwelgemoed8171]

Here early. Yay. Im so stoked my first lathe is on its way. Ive learned so much from You.

[@NikolaiTunguska]

I feel called out by that tailstock realignment comment :). Not sure when I last did it!

[@tonyc.4528]

I'll try that, Quinn, just as soon as I have my lathe back together and running😀

[@andycole5966]

I'm so grateful for your video. You are a great teacher, unusual on KZbin. Many thanks.

[@tnekkc]

To make a socket chisel handle in the metal lathe, I need to make 3 tapers; 1) external taper to measure socket taper, 2) internal taper to spin the handle, 3) external taper on the handle. The most common taper is 7.5 degrees on each side. But I have made tooling for 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, and 8 degrees.

[@FinnoUgricMachining]

Thanks for a good taper making presentation. There was one thing that You forgot, probably because it is so obvious. When measuring the taper, the vertical position of the measuring instrument point, needle or plunger, must be quite exactly at the centre height. This becomes more important when the workpiece diameter is small. At first thought it seems like this wouldn't matter and actually when measuring to get rid of the taper, it really doesn't. However, when trying to copy or set up the taper by numbers, a misaligned tip will result in a wrong angle since the radius changes. With small tapers like MT1 this can be significant. When copying a taper, the measuring tip doesn't need to be at the centre height. Actually it must be at the same height as the tip of the cutting tool. In practise this will be the centre height though.

[@shiro-r4m]

I second this

[@MF175mp]

This is very important

[@snowflakemelter1172]

I worked in hand fitted machine components and we used a paraffin wick smoke to indicate the contact on surfaces.

[@mpetersen6]

That works too.

[@nicholaslarson3826]

I think the weak link when testing your tapers is the tailstock. I have the same lathe (PM1030) and the surface finish inside the tailstock could definitely be improved.

[@Kaboomf]

Yes, even on big machines the inside taper on the tailstock can be pretty nasty. Either from sloppy manufacturing or from wear, if a tool has been accidentally spun or has been inserted with a bit of grit or a chip in there. My old TOS lathe has a MT4 tailstock, I was making an adaptor for cheaper MT3 tooling and was wondering why I couldn't get good surface contact. Until I stuck a finger in there and felt all the gouges and ridges, it seems like the factory used a dull reamer or were dragging chips around in there or something.

[@keithrosenberg5486]

Nice! You are correct! No I do not adjust my tailstock. I do not have one. Or a lathe. On the other hand, I actually do not need one for my woodshop. I enjoy watching you for tips for woodworking.

[@therealstubot]

I use a boring head in the tailstock with a shop made dead center to do the offset method without ruining the zero on the tailstock. I use a small bubble level on the boring head to get the offset alignment correct.

[@ExMachinaEngineering]

Smoothest Start Trek reference EVER!!!

[@gottfriedschuss5999]

Hi Quinn, Another great video! Really solid information. "Whether you are handling honey, tar, dung, or Prussian Blue, a little sticks to your fingers." Or, at least that's how I remember Mark Twain said it. 😎 Be well & Best regards, Gottfried

[@matthewlee8917]

I literally have a ground bar in the lathe right now and need to finish aligning. I should do it way more often.

[@mikeo7604]

Tapers also enable home fabrication of scale model cannon barrels!

[@skyclaw]

I do enjoy a bit of scale model siege warfare.

[@yertelt5570]

Oh the fun we used to have with Prussian blue. A thin coat is invisible on a black surface, like machine handles, lol.

[@andrewfanner2245]

Having an aged Drummond round bed aligning the tailstock involves it rotating round the bed if I'm not careful which isn't that great for height either but you have motivated me to check!

[@wiremonkeyshop]

You also have to consider the quality of the tailstock female taper, which is probably not great on a hobby lathe. Awesome video, Quinn!

[@76CelicaGT]

Really interesting video that teaches! Thank you for sharing these methods and how tos!

[@danielmorrow6165]

Quinn, you have a great channel and I’ve learned much from watching. What I’ve not seen is a tutorial on milling dovetails. I infrequently have to mill 60 or 65 degree .330 - .495 dovetails in 4140 cm and 410 or 416 stainless. One of these days, please educate us on your methods on smaller machines. Thanks!

[@robertschulke1596]

Excellent video as usual. Of course, some of the mismatch may be the precision of the tailstock taper.

[@weldmaster80]

Wish you would have done this a week ago, I JUST finished making a live center with a MT2 taper. For my lathe.

[@PhilipStubbs]

I need to do more stuff on my lathe. Videos like this enourages me to do that. Thank you.

[@keithyinger3326]

I really wish I had a bigger shop. My grandfather had a metal lathe in his shop. When he passed away, it got sold to a friend of ours. Well now that friend has passed away. We have Grandpa's torch set and his old Lincoln welder at home in my dad's shop. I would really love to bring that old lathe back home, but I have no where to put it, nor does my dad. It's a Colchester lathe. Dominion 15x48. Colchester lathe company. England. One of these days hopefully I will be able to afford a small hobby lathe. It would be nice for me to be able to turn motor shafts and maybe make a ring or two.

[@woodywoods5373]

Are you sure your not an expert? Thank you for the vid very informative 👍 Now I have the confidence to tackle this project, keep up this great work.

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

Great video. I check the tail stock about once a year.

[@chrissscottt]

Great video for someone with a passing interest like me. Thanks.

[@SethKotta]

"Turning a taper is so easy there's a good chance your lathe is already doing it without you knowing." -TOT

[@MF175mp]

100% chance, different thing how much

[@robin1987100]

Oh trust me Tony, I know it does..

[@reynaldogarza2579]

Haha! That’s funny!

[@wolfitirol8347]

Two year's ago I had to make a few tapers for a project MK3 and MK4 most of them and do I decided to I make my own taper fixture which was a MK4 Taper for the tailstock of the lathe he had a dovetail slide with a 60° peak on it and two clamp screws to hold the peak on the place you want him to ....into the chuck also came a 60° peak so you could take the work piece between centers then put the tailstock peak to the left or right and clamp it where you would get the taper you want. Now you could use the machine feed to take not too heavy cuts but this could hold s quite decent force so in short time you had the taper you want ...and after all you still had the lathe as you had it before there was no using the top slide for tapering involved the taper came from the out if center peak with dovetails on the corpus with an MK4 attached to it which all together was in the to tailstock for tapering and was replaced afterwards by a normal revolving peak...🤔🤪

[@paulthomas3782]

Thanks Quinn, as always some great advice on taper turning.

[@robertoswalt319]

One main challenge with the alignment bar is to not accidentally use it as material for a future project. For someone wanting to try prussian blue, it is a paint color at art supply stores and sold in small tubes.

[@mpetersen6]

Prussian Blue used in machine work is not an oil paint like you would find in a art supply store. Prussian Blue used for machine work is a non drying formula. Leave some of it on something and a year later it will still get on your hands* And buy good Prussian Blue. The Permatex sold in auto parts stores is too oily. Dykem Prussian Blue all the way. Not to be confused with Dykem layout fluid. This is the same Prussian Blue used in scraping work. For finish scraping work I normally dulled the surface with denatured alcohol. And then let it evaporate off. A very light film of blue on the master. Made the contact points jump right out. * A common practical joke in machine shops was to blue up something that somebody would handle. It does not wash off easy.

[@robertoswalt319]

@@mpetersen6 thanks for the information. I have some Prussian blue and I agree that no matter how careful, you will wear some for days.

[@einname9986]

Thank you so much for this video. I was literally a few hours ago thinking about how I can recreate that mystery tailstock taper of my probably 100 years old Lorch lathe. It doesn't have anything for mounting drills in; I was told the standard procedure for drilling is to create a small hole at the center of the piece to be drilled in by hand, then mount a drill between it and a special part that shall be mounted at the tailstock, somehow hold the drill so it doesn't rotate, run the lathe and crank the tailstock to drill the hole. Not sure if I am looking forward to trying this. Anyway, now that I know how to copy that mystery taper I may be able to mount a drillchuck from amazon ;)

[@MerlinZener]

when I was an apprentice many many years ago in the radio/TV field, I was told: if you want to make an oscillator, try to make an amplifier... so it seems: if you want to turn a taper, try to turn a parallel shaft...

[@johnstonewall917]

Old electronics adage..if it does not oscil now it will oscillator.

[@MerlinZener]

@@johnstonewall917 LOL :)

[@kennethelwell8574]

Ahh! electronics jokes from a guy named Zener, I almost diode laughing!

[@skyclaw]

@@kennethelwell8574 Zener diode jokes make me want to break down.

[@robertwalker7457]

Some really great tips, thank you. An off set center device for the tail stock might be an interesting project??

[@flyiniowan9623]

My sundstrand 14.5"x36" lathe has a long taper attachment. Its worth its weight in gold:)

[@panaviaman]

Thank you for this video, nearly all my working life was working between center and returning point of centers 2 or 3 times a week including tailstock, nobody seems to use this method anymore, it's handy as you can take out workpieces and turn around, also with mandrels superglue workpieces on and use heat to take off, 👍cool video

[@leehaelters6182]

Rick, thanks for the tips. When using heat to remove a piece from a mandrel, is the aim to expand the piece or to destroy the Superglue bond?

[@panaviaman]

@@leehaelters6182 only to break super glue bond not a lot of heat, 👍

[@leehaelters6182]

@@panaviaman, thank you, voice of experience!

[@firebird8600]

Yay! It's Blondihacks time!!

[@johnyoungquist6540]

I have an unusual MT-2 tailstock center that has a micrometer style of adjustment to offset it. I got it decades ago with an Emco Super 11 lathe. I have never seen one since. It works well for small tapers just like tailstock offset does but you don't have to upset your tailstock. I wonder why they aren't more readily available.

[@mpetersen6]

I had one but when I sold my bigger lathe I threw it in along with some tooling. But instead of centers in it I used half inch dowel pins with steel balls from ball bearings soldered in them. The adjustable center was actually a boring head. Too much offset with conventional centers just wears the center in the part out. Plus high pressure grease on the centers.

[@michaelj9210]

Anytime that you turn a taper by offsetting the tailstock, use a center drill that has a radius on the 60 degree taper. They are called radiused center drills. This will give you a more concentric diameter when you machine.