Sticking drive centre and project ideas

[Tiger]

Dear all,

I notice that on my lathe the drive centre is often hard to take out from the headstock spindle. I have cleaned it with compressed air and lubricated it with WD40 but it still gets stuck and I have to insert some rod and give it a fair :mad: whack to release it, I notice on some videos that I've watched how easy it comes out of their lathes, any suggestions?

Does anyone have a website or reference for project ideas for the lathe. I am after a comprehensive idea listing of things that could be made on the lathe. I am getting a little tired of making beads and coves for practice.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Bodgy]

Tiger

I just finished this and had great fun, and learned a lot.

Get some Jarrah or yr choice (amazing what you can find in the firewood stack) and turn up some tool handles. I made some simple tools and cannibalised some old ones and now have a set with oiled Jarrah handles and beautiful, polished copper ferules (old water pipe offcut). Mine comprise, burnisher, marking out knife, awl, scribe etc.

They all match and look like bought ones from one of the US/Canadian flash Emporia. The dark, oiled Jarrah and the bright, gleaming copper look so classy.

Its an opportunity to try different finishes. My favourite so far is Tung Oil, but haven't tried the Ubeat hard wax yet (EEEEWAX???)

[Ashore]

Tiger I think you will find that the center is sticking because of damage to the taper ie small brusing etc these happen if you drop, bump the taper etc
you can use bearing blue to find the high spots and use an oil stone to hone them off , be careful not to take too much off as you should have greater than 70% contact, the more the better
Clean the headstock spindle s inside taper with some metho on a rag and stick to remove and old grease etc then if you use a dry moly lubricant , or powder moly each time this will help. But use a dry lube as it doesn't attract dust like wd40 etc
Make sure the drive center has a 45deg bevel on the end you are hitting with the rod so it doesn't mushroom the end causing more problems and if you can some plastic tubeing over the rod so you don't damage the inside of the headstock spindle
Hope this helps




Rgds


Ashore

[Tiger]

Thanks, boys.

Bodgy we must belong to that parallel universe you were talking about. Are you good-looking, have 3 kids and a nagging wife too...

The first thing I ever made on my GMC lathe were handles and you're right, they are fun and are useful items too. When I progressed to the Hare and Forbes lathe, I realised I had some undesirable habits which is where I went back to square 1 and tried to relearn woodturning, so I have been spending some time with practice exercises etc. I do feel though that the lathe is somewhat limited in what it can produce in terms of useful things (but I hope I'm wrong because I love the lathe), hence I am looking for a comprehensive list of ideas on what I can make on the lathe.

Ashore, good advice, I will try your suggestions. Pretty sure that I haven't banged the spur centre anywhere, it's always been tight.

[hcbph]

Tiger

I think there's a couple things going on here. First off, the more times a lathe is used without removing the spur or live center, the harder it is to get out. Just a fact that each time you tighten a piece of wood between the centers, it drives them deeper into the respective socket, until it's removed. You also want to clean out the female end of the MT every so often to remove any buildup etc in it. You don't want either the spur or the live/dead center to spin in the socket. It it did, then you could get burrs in there and then they wouldn't come out at all.

Paul

[Bodgy]

Thanks, boys.

Bodgy we must belong to that parallel universe you were talking about. Are you good-looking, have 3 kids and a nagging wife too....

It is a bit weird, eh? Someone famous said "once is happenstance, twice is co-incidence and three times is enemy action"

Regarding your question, no, no (2) and no. Possibly the last may be accurate but I'm not sufficiently sensitive to be able to tell. I don't pay much attention, one just sort of tunes out.

[Utuk_Xul]

Just get a nut that matches the thread of your spindle and put it on before the drive centre. When you want to remove the drive centre just unscrew the nut and the pressure will pop it out without risking damage to your bearings.

[gatiep]

Yep what UX said is very useful. All good lathes are supplied with a knock out bar to remove the drive centre by knocking the end of the centre with the end of the bar through the hole in the spindle. A good knock out bar will have a domed end so as not to flare the end of the taper. Don't knock the bar with a hammer..........just thrust the bar in and out etc into the spindle bore to dislodge the drive centre.

The centres that remove so easily in the videos were not pressed in by the work being clamped between the spur drive and the live centre........the ( smart ) demonstrator knocked it out, then slid it back, then started filming the sequence where he removes the spur. If a spur drive ( standard lathe and drive quality ) is removable by hand after it has been used to turn any reasonable piece of wood, it will not provide a good solid drive to the wood. Morse tapers are designed to "lock" in, resisting twist torque and falling out ( like in vertical drill presses ).