MT1 or MT2? Al-Ko Kober HDM 850

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Agent_zed

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Hi,
I'm new to woodturning and I have a Al-Ko Kober HDM 850 lathe.

It appears as though the headstock has a tapered female hole and i am assuming this would be a morse taper fitting. The problem is I've measured the hole at the entrance and it is 15mm. When I look up morse taper sizing it says mt1 is ~13mm and mt2 is ~18mm.

So is it more likely that it is an MT1 or MT2?

This page gives me a lot of useful info about my lathe in general Hobbymat Variant MD120/150, Al-Ko Kober HDM850 & Farmer Woodturning lathese but doesn't answer this question.

Any thoughts appreciated.
 
The LARGE end of a MT1 is 0.475" = 12.065mm, small end 0.369" = 9.37mm so quite obviously would not 'seat' in a socket with a large end diameter of 15mm.

MT2 has a large end diameter of 0.7" = 17.78mm, small end 0.572" = 14.53mm - again hardly likely to fit a hole 15mm diameter. So I suspect that the socket is not Morse Taper.

It MAY be a Brown & Sharpe #6 which has a large end of 0.5996" (15mm is 0.5905" ) and a small end of 0.5" = 12.7mm over a length of 2.38" = 60.45mm which is the closest 'standard' that I can see, but (less likely) it might be a Jacobs #2 LE 0.559"-14.2mm - SE 0.4876"-12.38mm.
 
I think J-G is right. If you look at the photos, there is clearly a drive for the headstock comprising a screw fitting with a couple of different points to insert.

Based on this, if you can get a chuck that fits the thread, you need to get something like a Steb-centre that is designed to be held in the chuck.

I assume the tailstock has a Morse taper!

Phil
 
Thanks both. That all makes sense. I should elaborate a little as I do have most of the attachments in the pictures on that site which includes a faceplate, eggcup holder and drive centre. The reason for asking about the hole is that I was hoping to buy a small drive centre as the screw on one that I have is quite large so not so easy with smaller bits of wood.

The tailstock doesn't have an MT, it actually has a M10 thread on the end of the shaft which the live centre screws onto. I bought a jacobs chuck with an m10 fitting and it works perfect. It's not very common but ebay had some for fitting to a grinder?

Its a bit of an odd lathe and doesn't seem to share many of the sizings of others as its metric for one thing.

Seems to work well enough though, nice and smooth motor etc The tool rest is a bit sharp though and soft-ish so I might make a new one at some point.

Perhaps i should try turning some tapers to those sizes and see what fits. I assume it is designed for that otherwise it would be a straight hole but it is definitely smaller exit.

thanks
 
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