Have You Used A Taper Attachment?

E

eeler1

Dang, buggered that up too!!
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I had one for years, very protective of it, couldn't see life without it. But....... Never once used it. Admit it, we all lust after the taper attachment, we all want to have it on our machine, the queen of lathe accessories, but really, how many have used one, and how often does it get used?

I sold mine. Now feel sad that I did. Incomplete. Is the taper attachment just an object of desire, or a useful accessory? Why does it have such status when so rarely used?
 
Yep, use it less than 1/year. But its the only thing that works for some jobs. I've got lots of tooling in the same category: sine plate, index head, right angle mill head, others. My shop would not be complete without them.
 
When you need to turn some taper dowels or cut a pipe thread, match a tapered fit............
Some people never use em and others work em hard.
 
A taper attachment came with my South Bend 10K. After trying it I took it off and it's still sitting on a shelf 10 years later.
We have 5 lathes at the local community college with a TA and none have ever been used either. We show the students how they function so they have an idea of how they work but there is no project that requires their use.
 
I used one in high school shop class, and used one in the working world from time to time. Sadly, I do not yet have one for my lathe, but I have a couple of components and need to make the rest so that I can start on a project that does require a taper attachment.
 
I would take a hydraulic tracer over a T-A.



But then again I have neither, nor have used either. :(

Sent from somewhere in East Texas Jake Parker
 
I guess that all depends on your needs. One of my lathes has one, and I wish all 3 did. I use mine regularly, as there is no other way to cut an API tool joint on a manual machine. If I didn't make that type of part, I probably would just want one for general purposes. But I would want one.
 
My Clausing lathe came with one on it. And it’s designed with a special cross feed screw that is keyed for the TA. That keyed featured added back lash to the cross feed. So if the feed nut/screw has wear and then add the slop from the keyway, you get a lot of black lash. I took it all out and made the lathe stock. Don’t miss it, I use the compound. If I really had to, I could put it all back on. But, it’s been about 30 years now and don’t see it happening any time soon…Dave.
 
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I've had one for my last two lathes and never used either. Any taper I have to turn (namely on muzzle brakes) I can do using the compound. But if I ever need a long taper, I have the TA.
 
I've turned down a couple of barrels and taken the "steps" out of the military 8MM bbls I had for rebuilds, but other than that it's mostly just there......
 
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