South Bend lathe taper attachment

[Skyking1992]

First off, I am not a machinist by any means. I did grow up turning cranks on my Dad's machines, but I regretfully did not learn the trade. I now have my Dad's 13 inch South Bend lathe. I also have found pieces of a taper attachment. I don't think this fits the South Bend but I am not sure. It was manufactured my Master Taper Company, but I can't seem to find any info on them. My Dad didn't throw much away, so this very well could have been some extra piece that he was saving for a rainy day. These are the only two pieces I have.

So to all you South Bend experts and machinist, what might this fit? Is it worth anything? Should I just throw it in the scrap metal heap or put it on Craigslist?

Sorry - I resized the photos and they seem quite distorted. I'll try again.

 

[Skyking1992]

Here's full size photo.

 

[marinusdees]

I see pieces like this on ebay all the time. Seem quite pricey to me. Other than the hassle of shipping, might be worth it. Do a search on ebay, and see. This is the most valuable piece(s) for a taper attachment, other pieces can be fabricated.

 

[Skyking1992]

Number 2 photo:

 

[Skyking1992]

And number 3 photo:

 

[ssdave]

.....

 

[JeepJohn62]

I'm no South Bend expert. But I did restore an SB 10K with a taper attachment.

The taper attachment on my 10K is marked with SouthBend numbers. It attaches at the rear carriage apron and the far right end clamps to the frame ways.

The one in your photo could be an aftermarket version. As long as it fits, it should operate. The tricky part may be where the cross slide disconnects from the carriage. This is what allows the taper jig to control the cross slide with longitudinal movements.

John

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[TailGunner3000]

I would not scrap that. Ebay is probably your best bet for reaching the most amount of potential buyers. You also may want to post this on some of the many machinist forums. They should be able to help identify it and you might even finding a willing buyer.

 

[Skyking1992]

Thanks all, overall length is about 42 inches. The taper slide is about 16 inches total, so about 14 inches or so of travel. Without playing with it, it does not slide. I have no idea yet how frozen up it might be.

 

[mikegt4]

You might join some of the many home/hobby machinist forums and post the same question there.

 

[justanengineer]

It’s an almost complete aftermarket taper attachment. It’s for whatever machine you fit it to, and prob worth ~$100 as-is. Mention of yours being a 13” makes me suspect it’s a later machine, in which case it could’ve come from the factory with this. Regardless, unless it’s grossly oversized for the lathe I would fab the few missing parts and use it, a TA being one of the more useful accessories for a lathe.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[marinusdees]

I'm no South Bend expert. But I did restore an SB 10K with a taper attachment.

The taper attachment on my 10K is marked with SouthBend numbers. It attaches at the rear carriage apron and the far right end clamps to the frame ways.

The one in your photo could be an aftermarket version. As long as it fits, it should operate. The tricky part may be where the cross slide disconnects from the carriage. This is what allows the taper jig to control the cross slide with longitudinal movements.

John

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

On my South Bend 9A, removing the cross slide nut frees up the cross slide.

 

[Skyking1992]

Thanks for the info guys. I definitely won't throw this in the scrap heap. I think I'll hang onto it for now and see if it might adapt to the South Bend. I did watch a few you tube videos and also checked out hobby machinist forum for a little info on taper attachments. At least I now have a little more info on how these work.

Thanks again - this forum is such a wealth of info.

 

[Darren M.]

I realize this is an old thread. Some of us actually use the Search feature.
I have a similar taper attachment, model 200. Some additional Googling came up with this ad from a 1946 printing of Popular Mechanics magazine. Make with the clicky thing.
Cool old lathe accessory, IMHO.