# Home made die holder for lathe tail stock



## blacksmithden (Jan 17, 2014)

Last week was a tap holder. This weeks tool project was a die holder.

I made it to hold 1" dies. I just used a 12-24 machine screw for the die retainer. I'll make a thumb screw for it tomorrow. The throat on it is 3 3/4" deep, so more than enough for anything I'll ever likely do. I made it so that I could go up to 3/4" diameter. The bottom pick is a piece of scrap I turned down to 1/2" and threaded it 1/2 - 28. Works perfectly. Sorry about the crappy resolution of the picture of the threads...they're pretty fine, and the only camera I have is on my phone. Anyway....here's some picks.

Oh...and yes, I intentionally put the retaining screw off to the far side where it's a pain to get at. It seemed like the least likely spot that it would get jammed/smacked by something.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jan 17, 2014)

very nice, looks like it should survive the apocalypse! One of these is on my list of things to do, thanks for the inspiration!


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## blacksmithden (Jan 17, 2014)

mattthemuppet said:


> very nice,* looks like it should survive the apocalypse*! One of these is on my list of things to do, thanks for the inspiration!



Forgot to mention...it's made out of a stainless steel fork bar from a large forklift. ....at least I think it's stainless. The stuff never seems to corrode even if you leave it sitting outside for a few years. I had to do all the turning with carbide. It was the only piece of stock I had kicking around that was the right size. Now I just have to make 100% certain that there are zero chips in/on the taper when I put it in the tail stock or things are going to get ugly really quick.


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## ARM (Jan 18, 2014)

Nice piece of work.
Regret being a pain, would U mind saying  how U turned Your taper ending up with the correct fit.
Want to tackle such a TAPER but am still  hesitant
Thanks  a mill  in  advance
aRM


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## blacksmithden (Jan 19, 2014)

ARM said:


> Nice piece of work.
> Regret being a pain, would U mind saying  how U turned Your taper ending up with the correct fit.
> Want to tackle such a TAPER but am still  hesitant
> Thanks  a mill  in  advance
> aRM



No problem. I took an MT3 mandrel that had a drill chuck on it (came with the lathe)...knocked the chuck off so that I just had the mandrel. This had 2 center holes drilled in it. I put it between 2 dead centers...put a dial test indicator on my top slide....put it as close as I could by eye...then started running the indicator up and down the length of the taper with the top slide. I kept tapping the top slide over a tiny bit....re-check...tap it over...re-check...until I finally had the dial test indicator changing less than half a thou over the entire length of the taper....lock it down rock solid..recheck one more time....all good. That's when you know your top slide is at exactly the same angle as the taper. Yea..it's cheating....but I never was all that fond of math.  As far as how much to cut goes.....I just measured the diameter of the small end of the taper on the mandrel, and kept cutting until my work piece had the same small diameter....you're done...Bob's you uncle. Don't forget to wind your cross slide all the way to one end, and get your correct starting position before you start cutting. Also, remember...when you're cutting a taper using your top slide...the only thing that moves longitudinally is the top slide. Your carriage must remain in the same position throughout the cut...so lock it down as soon as you're ready to start your cuts.



Cheers.
BSD


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## chuckorlando (Jan 19, 2014)

Nice work man.

I dont think you cheated. If you have a good surface to work with, it seems like your method would work just fine. Down load the machinist buddy app or the like on your phone and you dont need to know the math(long as your phones charged). Then you could double check your compound angle if you have any doubt.


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## ARM (Jan 19, 2014)

[





> QUOTE=blacksmithden;172799]No problem. I took an MT3 mandrel that had a drill chuck on it (came with the lathe)...knocked the chuck off so that I just had the mandrel. This had 2 center holes drilled in it. I put it between 2 dead centers...put a dial test indicator on my top slide....put it as close as I could by eye...then started running the indicator up and down the length of the taper with the top slide. I kept tapping the top slide over a tiny bit....re-check...tap it over...re-check...until I finally had the dial test indicator changing less than half a thou over the entire length of the taper....lock it down rock solid..recheck one more time....all good. That's when you know your top slide is at exactly the same angle as the taper. Yea..it's cheating....but I never was all that fond of math.  As far as how much to cut goes.....I just measured the diameter of the small end of the taper on the mandrel, and kept cutting until my work piece had the same small diameter....you're done...Bob's you uncle. Don't forget to wind your cross slide all the way to one end, and get your correct starting position before you start cutting. Also, remember...when you're cutting a taper using your top slide...the only thing that moves longitudinally is the top slide. Your carriage must remain in the same position throughout the cut...so lock it down as soon as you're ready to start your cuts.
> 
> Cheers.
> BSD


[/QUOTE]

Hi BSD
This is so cool. U just turned Your lathe into a copy PROFILER !!  And the job got done, that's what mattered at the end of the day
Have a BLACK BOOK with all the MT Dimensions and the Formula for calculating the TANGENTS. For example it says that the "Included Angle" for MT 4 is 2 Degrees,58 Minutes and 31 Seconds. This would be tricky to set precisely on our Compound  ???  We did buy a TAPER TURNING ATTACHMENT with our Machine.  However,  it's one huge piece that will require mounting on our 40" Bed, with the correct know-how. That's another story.
Much appreciate Your candour and Your detailed explanation of how U got the Job done.
LORD BLESS
aRM


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