I get a .175 taper cut on the lathe What should I do.Brett
If your saying that when trying to turn a cylinder between centers, you get
a taper instead, most likely you need to adjust the tailstock setover. If
you are tapered by .175, you should be able to see some alignment difference
if you slide the tailstock up to the headstock to touch the centers
together.
Common things to look out for before playing with anything are (guys, help
me out here):
1) Tailstock ram extended too far and bent/worn/loose
2) Tailstock center not pressing enough against workpiece (slop)
3) Tailstock center worn off-center -- regrind
4) Tailstock morse taper dirty/damaged
Assuming everything is in good shape:
To dial it in, you can adjust the tailstock setover by half the amount of
the difference in end diameters (moving in the proper direction) and make
another test cut and see where you're at. Use a dial caliper or micrometer
to measure the diameters, and the cross-slide micrometer dial to help make
the adjustment.
If this isn't your problem, maybe the center heights of your headstock and
tailstock are different. This is exaggerated by improper tool height
setting. I wouldn't think this would be the case, but if so, then you need
to (hopefully) shim the headstock up while keeping the spindle axis parallel
to the ways.
What else is there to watch out for, group?
Paul R. Hvidston
ACKSYS Engineering
Upland, CA
