MORSE TAPER DIMENSIONS & Use

The Morse Taper was invented by Stephen A. Morse (also the inventor of the twist drill) in the mid-1860s. Since then it has evolved to encompass smaller and larger sizes and has been adopted as a standard by numerous organizations, including the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as ISO 296 and the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) as DIN 228-1

Morse Tapers come in eight sizes identified by number between 0 and 7. Often this is abbreviated as MT followed by a digit, for example a Morse taper number 4 would be MT4. The MT2 taper is the size most often found in drill presses up to 1/2" capacity.

Morse tapers can have three types of ends:

•tang to facilitate removal with a drift

•threaded to be held in place with a drawbar

•flat (no tang or threaded section)

The taper itself is roughly 5/8" per foot, but exact ratios and dimensions for the various sizes of tang type tapers are given below.

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