First Cuts, Not Bad But Not Great.......

In the picture in post #19, the cutoff blade doesn't look vertical. For cutting square shoulder grooves, you probably should make a form tool for them, instead of using a cutoff tool. Your parting blade is 0.040" wide. That makes it extremely difficult to use - if it isn't set up perfectly, your chances of breaking the blade are very high. When parting, lubrication is required - continuous flood, if possible. If not, then a brush loaded with the fluid continually painting the cut is needed. The oil is not really for the cut, but is instead for lubricating the sides of the tool and the part, since they have zero clearance.

As for cutting a taper, I hope that you meant offsetting the tailstock instead of "turning the headstock". I don't know of a lathe where you can "turn the headstock". For a better finish, a radius on the end of your tool will greatly improve the looks. Also, hone it to a very sharp condition.
 
Good catch! It wasn't vertical. I'm wondering if that it's the result of my poor setup or the result of the jams.
On my 4000 the headstock can be turned to cut a taper. I would think that the compound cross slide would be a better option but I don't have anything in my experience Rolodex to draw from. It even shows a detail of this in my manual. Are the current 4000's not able to do this?
 
The old Unimats you could turn the headstock also, and even remove it to do odd setups
-M
 
Janderso said:
Turning the headstock??
Ah, not a good idea, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

SLK001 said:
As for cutting a taper, I hope that you meant offsetting the tailstock instead of "turning the headstock". I don't know of a lathe where you can "turn the headstock".
Click to expand...

Yep, turning the headstock is a documented feature of these lathes.
I don't have one, but I remember seeing it in the instruction book.

Here's a ClickSpring video of making a square broach and he uses that feature to cut the taper:

-brino
 
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I sometimes wish I had a larger lathe that could turn the headstock, while keeping the gear train/leadscrew functional. For cutting small pipe threads and so forth it would be great
-M
 
Janderso said:
Turning the headstock??
Ah, not a good idea, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

The head on the Sherline lathes is designed to be able to swivel to allow for cutting a taper. It is a tiny lathe so they got creative in finding alternate ways of doing things that might not scale well to / from a larger lathe.

Kind of a pain because when done you have to ensure you have got it straight again, but if you need to turn a taper it works. They even give you a guide marked at 5 degree intervals.

Sherline head.jpg
 
SLK001 said:
I have no idea what a 4000 is.
Click to expand...

Just the model number
4000 / 4100 is the base model (3.5x8") lathe, 4500 / 4530 is the "deluxe" version (3.5x8") with adjustable zero hand wheels, 4400 / 4410 is the long bed (3.5x17") version.

Inch / metric model numbers.
 
Janderso said:
Turning the headstock??
Ah, not a good idea, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
that's how you turn tapers on sherline and unimat lathes
the headstock pivots to the selected angle and is locked down with retention bolts
the tapers are turned without the benefit of tailstock offset
 
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