Ed Huntress wrote:
"Doug wrote in message
...
Thanks to the suggestions on a machining problem I posed in another
thread,
it looks like I need to buy myself a live center. My lathe is an Emco
Maier Super 11, which has a #2 Morse taper. It was bought new& babied
since, so it's capable of doing very accurate work.

There are quite a few options, with a pretty wide range of prices. I
could
go with a $40 dual bearing model with no specified accuracy, up to a
kilobuck for a Royal toolmakers set with interchangeable points and a TIR
of 0.00005".

I don't mind spending a few hundred bucks but I'd like to make sure I get
the most bang for those bucks. I'm leary of Chinese stuff unless I get
more than annecdotal info that a certain brand is OK. I like the idea of
interchangeable points, but assume you have to pay serious bucks to
maintain accuracy with such a setup.

The floor is open..

Thanks!

Doug White

Just in case you run into a fussy old fart, like meg, be aware that the
traditional meaning of a "live center" is one that is driven under power. In
other words, a headstock center.

A ball-bearing center for use in the tailstock is a ball-bearing dead
center.

You won't have any problem using the term the way you're using it, unless
you get an old guy on a bad day. d8-)



Ed,

Relax and go out fishing, The striped bass are running big time.

John