Setting a lathe tailstock off center to turn a taper can be done quite accurately with nothing more elaborate than a feeler gauge. First smooth up the work, then adjust the tailstock for the taper cut as nearly correct as possible by sight. Now set the tool to just touch the work at the end that is to be the small end of the taper. Run the carriage back to the portion of the work that is to be the large end of the taper. Then slip a number of leaves of the feeler gauge, equal in thickness to one half of the taper that is to be cut, between the tool and the work, after which the tailstock is adjusted so that the gauge just slips between them. Also, the tool, left at the same setting, should just touch the work at the end to be turned down.
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Verbatim transcription -- Popular Mechanics, pg. 464, September, 1938. Digitized by Google Books.
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Verbatim transcription -- Popular Mechanics, pg. 464, September, 1938. Digitized by Google Books.
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