- Joined
- Dec 7, 2015
- Messages
- 519
I apologize if this has come up before; I did a search but didn't find anything. I have a (reasonable) investment in my dies, and when looking for a floating die holder for the lathe today noticed that all the die holders seem to be for round dies. My dies are hex. Sigh.
I thought perhaps a hex die holder might be a good shop project. I'm not sure how to cut an internal hex, but I figured I could drill six small holes as corner reliefs, and then cut the straights with an end mill. Set screws would hold the die in place. A simple bore down the center could ride on a piece of drill rod held in a drill chuck. Seems simple enough.
That said, It would be way cooler if it had it's own taper to fit the tailstock. My lathe has pretty excessive wear in the ways so I'm positive I cannot machine a proper MT2 taper. I'm even more positive that I don't have the skill for that yet anyway.
I was wondering it there is some kind of "pre-tapered" stock that you can buy. I was thinking that maybe a MT2 test bar could work as a source for pre-tapered stock. I could bore the 12L14 die holder piece to ride on the shortened test bar, though it would be pretty wide. Can't see why the test bar diameter being "fat" would be a big deal though. An MT2 test bar is $32 though (ebay).
So the question is- is there some place to buy pre-tapered stock? Is the test bar a good plan?
Or maybe the better question- does anyone make a floating die holder for hex dies? (Though this does seem like a pretty good beginner shop project.)
I thought perhaps a hex die holder might be a good shop project. I'm not sure how to cut an internal hex, but I figured I could drill six small holes as corner reliefs, and then cut the straights with an end mill. Set screws would hold the die in place. A simple bore down the center could ride on a piece of drill rod held in a drill chuck. Seems simple enough.
That said, It would be way cooler if it had it's own taper to fit the tailstock. My lathe has pretty excessive wear in the ways so I'm positive I cannot machine a proper MT2 taper. I'm even more positive that I don't have the skill for that yet anyway.
I was wondering it there is some kind of "pre-tapered" stock that you can buy. I was thinking that maybe a MT2 test bar could work as a source for pre-tapered stock. I could bore the 12L14 die holder piece to ride on the shortened test bar, though it would be pretty wide. Can't see why the test bar diameter being "fat" would be a big deal though. An MT2 test bar is $32 though (ebay).
So the question is- is there some place to buy pre-tapered stock? Is the test bar a good plan?
Or maybe the better question- does anyone make a floating die holder for hex dies? (Though this does seem like a pretty good beginner shop project.)
Last edited: