South Bend taper attachment

joebiplane

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H-M Supporter Gold Member
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Nov 22, 2010
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A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.
Img_1921.jpg


I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.
Img_7597_zpscb8b5dd7.jpg


Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544

s-b200x200.jpg
 
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Iam not familiar enuf with older South bends to know the answer. But it mightn't not hurt to ask the seller directly what they think.

Also I've been talking to Brian Miller, at a Miller Machine and Fabrication about my SB Fourteen repair. He makes and sells cross slide feed screws and nuts for old South Bend machines. He might know the answer.

Glenn
 
I cannot swear to it, but when I was looking for adding a taper attachment to my Hvy10 a few years back, I remember needing to find parts for the cross feed screw mechanism specific to my model. At least that's my memory of it. Hopefully someone can answer you for sure - I know it gets frustrating hearing evasive answers......
 
You will need the Telescoping x feed screw and gear shaft, had to replace mine, got them from latheman2 I think but I got the last one he had, also I got a telescopingearshaft from eBay that had a hairline crack on one of the splines I think I still have it somewhere ,it's fixable and may not need fixing as I couldn't see the crack till I took a pic of it.
 
Thanks fellows. It never ceases to amaze me how helpful you members are !
Joe Larsen
 
Hi Joe,

that cross feed tube that you pictured for the taper attachment, should be fairly easy to make, if you get stuck for finding a replacement part.

Brian :)
 
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