The Sherline lathes use that size, have a word with Millhill supplies

Could that not be your 1st project? Make a 0MT to #JT arbor.

John

I have an MT0 dead centre somewhere if that's useful to you – no use to me.

Steve

I ve been told Sherline,Cowells and Unimat arent proper 0 mt..they ve been altered..I phoned the firms and they told me! I suppose it stops people buying cheaper ones from other firms just like camera firms uesd to do with films..
I wonder if I buy a dead centre , which is available, is it going to be possible to turn the end down on this mini mini lathe and use a die on it..It s tool steel?

Jonathon,

The RDG arbor is long, about 1 5/8". I am going through a similar exercise with a Super Adept and that has a short hole for a stubby centre in both tailstock and headstock and in my instance, although the taper is M0 the top dia is 0.25"and just about coincides with the bottom dia of the RDG arbor. The first job was to set up another machine, I have a little Zyto with offsetting tailstock, match up the taper with a dti and then turn down the top portion of the arbor till I got to the required 0.25 dia, cutting off the remnant after double checking I got the taper and dia right as there is no going back!! I was lucky to have rescued a suitable 0 -1/4" chuck from a dead pistol drill some time ago so I only spent money on the arbor.
I hope you dont have the small hole as on my machine but there is a way round it.
Bob D
Does any one else only see spelling errors after printing/posting?

Edited By Robert Dodds on 18/12/2014 15:05:26

My Flexispeed is definitely the small end of a 0MT which, sadly, means that cutting down a full 0MT arbour isn't an option. This is a full OMT centre sitting in the tailstock.

All the full 0MT centres I've seen are hardened but as it's a good bet that they are carbon steel they should be fairly easy to soften.

Rod

A photo of my turned down, cut down RDG arbor ready to fit to the chuck
The as turned taper needed a bit of lapping paste and polishing up to get it to grip reasonably in the tailstock socket
Note the  flats on the 15mm shoulder dia. to allow a13mm spanner to tighten/undo the arbor from the drill chuck

Bob D

Edited By Robert Dodds on 18/12/2014 19:39:23

U J,
I'm not clear what stage you're at. Does your little lathe let the small end of an M0 into it's sockets or are you, like me, unable to even start the standard M0 into the hole. Neil called the Adept a M00 and thats not a bad definition.
If Adept is what you've got then taper turning is probably involved but if you can get an M0 stubby into the headstock spindle taper you can proceed from there. cut off the excess leaving enough to turn a screwed spigot, say M4 or M5 on the end.
Now make a screwed bush out of say 15mm dia bar, matching your M4/M5 and rough turn to size for your drill chuck. To get best concentricity mount the part finished bush on the stubby arbor, put it back in your headstock spindle and turn the remaining dias true. Die the thread for your chuck, assemble it and go drill some holes.
I would not do any welding, too many stresses and distorsion. All normal cutting tends to tighten the threads up so there is little chance of things coming loose unexpectedly.
If you are stuck wiith lathe that has no facility for offsetting the tailstock, like the Adept, and want to do a slow taper there are simple attachments to put an adjustable centre on the tailstock barrel. these often use the MT hole but can also mount straight onto the outside diameter of the barrel. Making from scratch can be a bit involved but simpler designs should be possible with little more than a lathe with chuck and a pillar drill.
The frustrating part is setting it up to accurately match an existing, M00 say, taper

Bob D