Measuring My Spindle Taper

[Gguerra]

Ok
Newbie again......
As I mentioned earlier, I am in search of a 5c collet adapter for my Sheldon XL-56.
I noticed a few online, but I am faced with the question........what MT does my lathe spindle have? How do I measure that?

 

[Jay-z]

Probably an MT 4.5

 

[coffmajt]

one way would be to use a back plunger dial indicator with the deep reach pivot bar attached to reach into the spindle nose, then use another indicator to measure travel of the carriage while recording the taper in the spindle nose, then use those readings to compare to standard morse tapers shown in something like machinery handbook == Jack

 

[Gguerra]

Thank you for the info......
Being the genius that I am....(NOT).......
I looked in the ancient manual for the parts list and came up with this description...
I have a LOO spindle with a Morse 5 taper......does that sound right?

 

[Jay-z]

I would almost guarantee that the taper is MT 4.5 . I own a machine with the same exact spindle and MT 5 will not fit .

 

[4GSR]

I would almost guarantee that the taper is MT 4.5 . I own a machine with the same exact spindle and MT 5 will not fit .

It's not a 4-1/2 MT. The Sheldon spindle taper is a tad bigger at the face of the spindle. On a Sheldon lathe the diameter at the face of the spindle is 1.625". A true 4-1/2 MT is 1.500" at the gage line on the large end. Big difference if you ask me. My collet adapter measures 1.634 dia. at .100 from the back of the flange on the adapter. When installed, the gap between the spindle and the flange of the adapter is about .250.

For reference, on most South Bend lathes, the taper diameter at the face of the spindle is 1.635".

On most Rockwell lathes, the taper diameter at the face of the spindle is 1.530". At least, that's what it measures on my 14" Rockwell lathe.

Ken

 

[mzayd3]

Ken is right. The Sheldon lathes have an MT5 spindle, but it is shortened. I'm not exactly sure what the dimensions are, but the slope and major? diameter match up with a MT5.


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[4GSR]

Ken is right. The Sheldon lathes have an MT5 spindle, but it is shortened. I'm not exactly sure what the dimensions are, but the slope and major? diameter match up with a MT5.


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Technically, its not a no. 5 MT. It's more like a Morse 4-3/4 taper if there was such a thing.

Ken

 

[4GSR]

Here is the drawing for the collet adapter for most Sheldon lathes that uses a 5C collet system. (Reference Sheldon Lathe Group on Yahoo)