Copyright (C) 1986-2008 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved.

No part of "This Web Site" (HTML document), including associated files, may be: distributed, sublicensed, transmitted, copied, archived, mirrored, modified, bundled, embedded, sold, given away, rented, loaned, or shared in any form without express written permission in a formal Vendor agreement contract dated and signed in ink obtained directly from Daniel H. Hudgins by registered postal mail. All agreements for permission to distribute expire after a period no greater than one year from the date of the signing of the agreement by Daniel H. Hudgins. See the current "EULA" for information regarding limited copying and storage for the purpose of "Beta Testing" "This Web Site."

To view or use the current version of this Web page you may need to reload or refresh the display of this page by your browser. Just clicking on the browser's [Reload] or [Refresh] icon may not be enough to insure that all of the page's most current contents have been cached and displayed. Some browsers may have additional commands to help display the page's most current contents such as: holding down the [Shift] key and clicking on the [Reload] icon, holding down the [Control] key and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, holding down the [Control] and [Shift] keys and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, pressing the [Control] and [F5] keys, pressing [Control] and the [R] key, or some other combination of keys or clicks. Check to see which commands your HTML browser uses to load the most current page contents into its cache and then to display them onto the screen.

This Web site is dedicated to the thousands of "users" of my programs, those who have helped test my programs over the last 22 or so years, and especially those who shared their experiences with me.

You must read this notice: This is a licensed Web site (HTML document and associated files). You must read and agree to be legally bound in contract by the Terms of Use and conditions given in the End User License Agreement ("EULA"), Legal Notices, Instructions, Warnings, Disclaimers, and all other text in "SECTION: 0" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before reading or using any of the information, software programs, and or files, contained in, linked to, and or associated with, "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files). Any use or "Beta Testing" of "This Web Site" constitutes your acknowledgment of your full agreement with the current End User License Agreement ("EULA") and your decision to have this current license supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings. Information and files in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) have been placed here so that long time users of "The Author's" programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) , DANCAM.EXE (tm) , or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) could help proofread the text of the documentation files or screens displayed, and also help test data files, example files, and or any software programs that might be made available from time to time, to aid "The Author" in finding mistakes, bugs, and other errors, omissions, defects, mistakes, and faults. Everything in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) is "Beta Test", "Beta Code", Experimental, Preliminary, requires proofreading, or is being evaluated for possible revision, and is NOT warranted to be free of defect. To help "The Author" report any bugs, foul-ups, defects, or mistakes that you find, see "SECTION: 8" for instructions. "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) and all other files and programs by Daniel H. Hudgins are made available "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. All offers and specifications are subject to change or discontinuation without notice of any kind. Please read "SECTION: 8" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before trying to contact "The Author."

SECTION: 7.20 is for some "general" discussion about Metalworking, see also the program files in the current distribution of my programs, the other parts of this HTML documentation, and the current On-Line version of this Web site for information more specifically about my programs. Any comparisons of my programs or methods to some others is only given as a vague generality of my opinion and is not intended as a recommendation or reference to any particular products, or methods, always make your own evaluations and comparisons before taking any action.

The illustrations in the sections and sub-sections of SECTION: 7.20 are not intended to be examples of recommended or proper practice, and in some cases may illustrate methods that you yourself would not apply as shown. The variety of illustrations, showing both practical and discouraged practices, has been included to provide illumination of the general metalworking principles discussed in these sections, and other parts of the documentation, in order to help the reader understand some of the many issues relating to the practical matter of producing parts of usable quality by manual, semi-manual, semi-automated, or fully automated machine operation, and how CAD and CAM software, such as my programs that are described in this Web site, might be of assistance to that end.

A couple of the photos in subsections of SECTION: 7.20 where taken using a Sears (tm) Craftsman (tm) Atlas (tm) type lathe, the others were taken while using a ShopTask (tm) model 17-20 type 3-in-1 multi-purpose combination mill, drill, and lathe. When a manual machine tool is retrofit for computer control you need to consider how safety shields should be added, and where the emergency power cutoff switches should be placed.

Be sure to watch all of the video clips linked to in SECTION: 4, in order to see my CAM program DANCAM.EXE (tm) being used to automatically make a part under a form of Computer Numerical Control a.k.a. CNC, and to also see other narrated lessons on how to use my CAD program DANCAD3D.COM (tm) for related tasks.

When making parts, whether by manual or automated means it is frequently necessary to make conical shaped cuts on parts. The conical shaped cuts may just be to put a bevel on the edge so that it is not sharp, or the conical shaped cut might be to make a tapered part that will fit into a similarly tapered part.

In a manual lathe, conical cuts are made by using a compound rest on the cross slide with the second motion set to the angle of the desired cut. The length of the angled cut would be limited to the length of the compound rest's tool holder's distance of travel, unless you try to move the carriage and cross slide along the lathe bed and connect more than one angled cut made by using the compound rest on the cross slide.

It is also possible to shift the tailstock to make some kinds of tapers when turning between centers, but large angles cannot normally be made my shifting the tailstock off of the lathe spindle's center line.

In an automated lathe, operated by a CAM program such as my DANCAM.EXE (tm) program, the tool path can contain an inclined line and the tool will follow the inclined line in the tool path to automatically make a cut at any angle. The [M]easure command in DANCAD3D.COM (tm)'s drawing editor can be used to find the starting and ending points for a cut at a particular angle, and then you can draw the needed tool path lines to save to the tool path file.

Computer control can be helpful in boring deep internal tapers since the range of motion on the carriage and cross slide are greater than the range of motion on the compound rest.

Small angled cuts, for beveling sharp edges and such can also be made by setting the tool's edge at 45 degrees, and then feeding the angled tool edge into the turning part's sharp edge where turning and facing cuts meet on the work-piece.

A wide bevel is being cut here by rotating the compound rest on the cross slide to 45 degrees, and then cranking the tool by using the small crank on the compound rest, seen to the right rear of the tool holder, to move the tool along a line of motion at an angle relative to the chuck face.

Under the compound rest on the cross slide is a scale that lets you select the angle for the angled cutting. In the lower right you can see the heads of the gib tension clamping screws that control how tight the moving cross slide squeezes on the dovetail. The nuts on the gib tension clamping screws let you lock them so the screws do not vibrate loose. When operating a machine by automation you need to carefully adjust the tension on the dovetails since too much may stall stepper motors, and too little may cause problems with the backlash compensation.