SHOP-MADE LATHE TAPER ATTACHMENT

This article originally appeared in an issue of Popular Mechanics circa late 1940's or early 1950's.

Description:
Mounted on a small lathe this attachment can be adjusted to turn outside or inside tapers on work mounted between centers or in a chuck for taper boring. Attachment is made entirely from stock materials. Turning a taper by offsetting the tailstock of the lathe is a common practice but the method has several disadvantages. In turning a taper by offsetting, the lathe centers are out of alignment which can result in inaccuracies due to burring of the center holes in the work, also possible scoring of the lathe tail center. Only work mounted between centers can be tapered by the offset method; taper boring cannot be done. In small shops where the amount of taper work does not warrant the outlay for a conventional taper attachment, it is possible, using stock materials, to make one to fit nearly all small lathes. The taper attachment in this set of plans was made to fit a 9-inch lathe. As a rule, the parts dimensioned will be suitable for various makes of 9-in. lathes and possibly those of slightly larger or smaller swing.