Moving right along with another ridiculous shop dodge for you all to
shoot down.

Wanted to support a ~5" X ~9" hardwood open form with a tail
center/retained wood tenon for as long as possible. Didn't have long to
wait. Piece being narrow, the tenon took up too much space and the
revolving center soon got in the way. Thought to substitute a long
thin, but strong crs rod for the thicker wood tenon I wanted to leave
on.

Before you suggest I forget tail support and use glue blocks,
faceplates, steadies, etc. etc. the exterior wasn't round to be
supported by a steady and making up a turtle to conform seemed a bad
idea. Besides this is about long revolving tail centers so I'll try to
keep it that way.

Made up a long thin dead center using a pointed 10" X 3/8" rod held in a
Jacobs tail chuck. Adequate support and could be retained much longer
than the wood tenon, but lots of smoking and squealing. I don't own a
revolving Jacobs chuck.


Drilled a mating hole with a center bit in a long pointed rod to capture
it in the revolving tail center and jam it against the work. Captured it
ok, but it escaped with squeaks & groans! Second bad idea.

Now finally to the subject for the two still reading. I recalled a
'revolving' center I'd made up once. Nothing more than drilling a hole
in a short rod held in a Jacobs chuck Then dropping a bearing ball into
the greased hole followed with the flat end of a pointed rod to revolve
against the ball (thrust bearing). No smoke, no squeal. A little wobble,
but it's not dial indicator time.

Not my original sin for sure, but keep this dodge in mind when you need
an extended revolving tail center for deep tailstock support or
whatever. Maybe I'll turn a taper or cut some threads on a single
testicle revolving center to adapt to a Jacobs chuck. Sounds painful,
but Viola! a revolving Jacobs chuck. Not sure what for, but doesn't
function follow tinker?


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

If you had a Oneway center, you could just remove the tip and insert
whatever wooden center you wanted. Or drill and tap a larger turned
rod and thread it onto the center.

I have a small wooden post I use when turning ball feet; it fits into
the center when the tip is removed, and provides a 1/4 diameter flat
to press against the "bottom" of the blank.

I once made up a Morse taper with a ball bearing on it. I can make up
variously shaped wood attachments for situations like this.

Arch,

When I first learned to turn, in the early forties, there was no such
thing as a live center. That 'thingy' on the tailstock was known as a
dead center.

On my grandfather's homemade lathe, it was the pointed end of a threaded
rod. You drove the dead center into the wood and then backed it out
enough to give it a shot of oil. Something like 30W oil. This seemed to
work quite well.

When I found turning again after about sixty years, I was amazed at the
efficiency of a live center.

I suggest you regress to those old days and use a dead center and an oil
can!

Harry

Arch wrote:
Moving right along with another ridiculous shop dodge for you all to
shoot down.

Wanted to support a ~5" X ~9" hardwood open form with a tail
center/retained wood tenon for as long as possible. Didn't have long to
wait. Piece being narrow, the tenon took up too much space and the
revolving center soon got in the way. Thought to substitute a long
thin, but strong crs rod for the thicker wood tenon I wanted to leave
on.

Before you suggest I forget tail support and use glue blocks,
faceplates, steadies, etc. etc. the exterior wasn't round to be
supported by a steady and making up a turtle to conform seemed a bad
idea. Besides this is about long revolving tail centers so I'll try to
keep it that way.

Made up a long thin dead center using a pointed 10" X 3/8" rod held in a
Jacobs tail chuck. Adequate support and could be retained much longer
than the wood tenon, but lots of smoking and squealing. I don't own a
revolving Jacobs chuck.


Drilled a mating hole with a center bit in a long pointed rod to capture
it in the revolving tail center and jam it against the work. Captured it
ok, but it escaped with squeaks & groans! Second bad idea.

Now finally to the subject for the two still reading. I recalled a
'revolving' center I'd made up once. Nothing more than drilling a hole
in a short rod held in a Jacobs chuck Then dropping a bearing ball into
the greased hole followed with the flat end of a pointed rod to revolve
against the ball (thrust bearing). No smoke, no squeal. A little wobble,
but it's not dial indicator time.

Not my original sin for sure, but keep this dodge in mind when you need
an extended revolving tail center for deep tailstock support or
whatever. Maybe I'll turn a taper or cut some threads on a single
testicle revolving center to adapt to a Jacobs chuck. Sounds painful,
but Viola! a revolving Jacobs chuck. Not sure what for, but doesn't
function follow tinker?


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



how about using a forstner bit to make a seat for a small ball bearing
(the whole bearing, not just the ball) and running the point of your
((long, homemade) dead center into the middle of that?

"DJ Delorie" wrote in message
...

If you had a Oneway center, you could just remove the tip and insert
whatever wooden center you wanted. Or drill and tap a larger turned
rod and thread it onto the center.

Or a NOVA, which has a taper capable of being used as a bumper on its own
which is also threaded for homebrew attachments like inside steady cones,
jam chucks and such.

"George" George@least writes:
Or a NOVA, which has a taper capable of being used as a bumper on
its own which is also threaded for homebrew attachments like inside
steady cones, jam chucks and such.

Even my Grizzly center has a pop-out point, so you can turn a wooden
taper to fit it.

Or gee, just turn a stick with a hole on one end, and use the center's
regular point to hold it in place.

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:25:09 -0400, Arch wrote:

Now finally to the subject for the two still reading. I recalled a
'revolving' center I'd made up once. Nothing more than drilling a hole
in a short rod held in a Jacobs chuck Then dropping a bearing ball into
the greased hole followed with the flat end of a pointed rod to revolve
against the ball (thrust bearing). No smoke, no squeal. A little wobble,
but it's not dial indicator time.

I made up a rolling center a few years ago, using a single ball for the
lack of a real thrust bearing. It was captured between two centerholes,
one in the turning shaft and the other in the body of the unit. The shaft
was held in a single ball bearing--an R8, if I remember right--and
continued for about 3/4" beyond that to the bottom of the body's cavity,
where the ball was captured. It was just like your average rolling center,
except with only one bearing unit up front and the captured ball at the
inner end. Worked OK, as long as I kept it packed with grease.

Now I have a cheapo live center that came with the Jet 1236, with a
removable tapered pin. I could machine custom points for this, but so far
I've only made a cup center from maple to fit in this unit:
http://www.turnwood.net/Photopost/sh...cat/500/page/2

Ken Grunke
http://www.token.crwoodturner.com/

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"Arch" wrote in message
...
Moving right along with another ridiculous shop dodge for you all to
shoot down.

I would have thought a revolving testicle would be rather painful!(:-)

Alan