Taper turning

Some time ago,I came across an article about using an adjustable boring head for taper turning.The idea was to be able to leave the tailstock undisturbed while setting the offset using the boring head. Now,it seems to me that the boring head would need to be setup so that it would be horizontal,dead on. The article did not explain how to achieve this.Has anyone out there used this system before,or have any ideas how to go about it? I prefer to leave the tail stock alone,if I can,too much messing to get it right again.

Thanks in advance.

Yes I have used that method for making Morse tapered stub arbours.

For the mini centre in the boring head I used a re-profiled solid carbide centre drill. To ensure it was level to the lathe bed I used a bit of bar clamped across it and a DTI on the cross slide.

If you have a long enough bit of, straight, truly round bar, you could just clamp that in the side hole on the boring head and clock to that.

Bill

Larry, I have not used this system, no need I have a TT attachment however to get it as close as possible it depends on the design of the said boring head but if it has a horizontal through hole just insert a suitable bar and clock each side so its correct to the lathe bed, if it has not got this then probably it will have 2/3 holes in the slide so use the outer ones and do the same.
Keep in mind there will undoubtedly be some angular movement in the tailstock barrel/housing so keep this in the forward position when clocking. In reality this will make very little difference to the taper you cut.

Regards John

My thanks to both of you,I was thinking along those lines,but using a small level !,never thought of the clock !!

How stupid can one get ? [dont answer that ! ]

Will give that a try tomorrow,thanks again,and happy swarf making in 2018 .

The Tree boring head is what you are looking for. The Tree head had a dovetail slide that could be adjustable for angle. When using the Tree, the quill was NOT advanced as in conventional boring. The tool slide of the boring head advanced along the angled dovetail slide.