Fly cutter – boring head – MT drill for work secured on saddle ?

Norman

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I would if I had one for turning between centers with a catchplate and dog.

Trouble is some bright spark numptie at Boxford decided it would be a good idea to make the taper in the headstock a non-standard Morse 4 1/2 taper.!

They will gladly sell me one that reduces to a No.3 but want £115 plus VAT for them.!

So if anyone has for some obscure reason got a 4 1/4 taper please let me know.

Nick

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But then if they had only put a MT3 in there in the first place you would be whinging that you could only get 3/4" up the spout

Gimme some sizes of a 4 1/2 ?

Got a drawer full of oddball sleeves but going to have to be more than one bag of jelly babies

Nick put a bit of bar in your 3-jaw and turn a 60deg point on the end, don't remove until after the job is done, drive the dig off the side of a chuck jaw.

I often do as above so the taper may only get used a couple of times a year for a boring head or flycutter when machining castings on the cross slide.

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Nick

To answer the original question: once in 12 years when turning my traction engine crankshafts between centres, using a MT3 centre in the 5-3 adaptor that came with the lathe.

Andrew

Never.

I use the headstock Morse taper sometimes.

I make MT2 tooling for my mill. I usually make the taper in the lathe, holding the work in the chuck. I then remove the chuck and fit the taper , with an MT2 to MT3 adaptor in the headstock and then machine the business end of the tooling. This ensures concentricity of the tooling with the taper.

When gear cutting I mount the gear blank in the lathe headstock using an MT2 to MT3 adaptor and an MT2 to ER32 adaptor. I can then machine the blank to size with good concentricity to the taper. Once the blank is machined I can remove the taper from the headstock and transfer it to the MT2 tapered hole in the centre of my rotary table on the mill for cutting the teeth. After cutting the teeth it can be transferred back to the lathe for de-burring.

I also have an adjustable stock that fits into the headstock taper for making multiple parts all the same size.

Mike

Very rarely. I cant remember the last time I used the headstock taper; I always do as Jason says and trim a homemade soft centre in the chuck to ensure it is as true as possible. Such a centre is best made with a shoulder to eliminate the possibility of it being pushed into the chuck (belt & braces). Colin

As a long term viewer of the forum, and very much a novice, I thought it was about time I joined in.

I seem to be in a very small club, as someone who actually uses MT collets in the headstock. It must surely be the most rigid setup for fly cutting and other milling cutters, for those of us without a mill – yet.

Mike.

The TOS lathe which has been in daily use for the last 18 years from new still has the adaptor sealed in wax.

The only thing I do fit in there is a home made one that is tapped 1/2" Whit for a depth stop bar. Only reason it's 1/2" Whit is i have a big legacy of Whit threaded rod and holding clamps from when Erricsons Telephones, later Plessy was in business.

Thanks for the table, saved and printed out. Will check later.

I do believe that there is also a short MT4 and short MT5 for spindles as well ? I'll measure what I have and do a list.

Probably the best dimension is just the large end, everything else has to carry on.