Live Centers

[Bobostro61]

Who makes a decent 60 degree live center for the tail stock? The one I have that I believe I bought either at Rockler or Woodcraft was falling apart today. The plate that screws in in the back against the bearing kept coming loose while I was turning. I'd put it back in place as tight as possible and it would just come loose again. I think I need a replacement.

Thanks.

 

[joefyffe]

My recommendation would be IAP member John Goodin, johnnycnc penturnersproducts.com Great Guy, Great Toys!!! OOPs, I mean "TOOLS"

 

[plantman]

Bob; Try using a little Loc-tight on your screws. Jim S

 

[KenV]

Who makes a decent 60 degree live center for the tail stock? The one I have that I believe I bought either at Rockler or Woodcraft was falling apart today. The plate that screws in in the back against the bearing kept coming loose while I was turning. I'd put it back in place as tight as possible and it would just come loose again. I think I need a replacement.

Thanks.

Take a hard look at the Nova Live Center. It can be a 60 degree live center and much much more. Will cost more but can support the outboard side of lots of things with a bit of thought.

 

[Bobostro61]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'll try the Loc-tite route first before spending more money. The live center works fine when its all together.

 

[cwolfs69]

be carefull

make sure when you are lock titeing the nut you do not get it into the bearings. bad news on your rolling parts. i would suggest starting the treads pa little prior to putting on the lock tite.

 

[sbell111]

Four or five years ago, there was a thread discussing the quality differences between cheapo live centers and spendy ones. The conclusion was that the spendy ones were much better.

I commented that given that my Grizzly live center cost something like twelve bucks, I could replace it many times for the price of the 'good' ones and that I likely wouldn't need to replace it that many times.

Based on that thread, however, I got nervous that my cheapo live center was going to die at the perfectly wrong time and leave me in the lurch. This resulted in my buying a spare one just in case. That spare is still in a drawer in our shop. Of course, the price on that cheapo live center has dramatically increased all the way to $14.95.

My point is, if you are having trouble with your live center, throw it in the trash can and buy a replacement. A cheapo replacement will be far better than the one you having trouble with.

 

[kena]

That same thing happened to me yesterday while turning a candlestick. I tried tightening it several times, but it kept backing out. The last time out, I cleaned the internal and external threads with brake parts cleaner and applied blue thread locker to the external threads. So far, it has not backed out again.

 

[cwolfs69]

Four or five years ago, there was a thread discussing the quality differences between cheapo live centers and spendy ones. The conclusion was that the spendy ones were much better.

I commented that given that my Grizzly live center cost something like twelve bucks, I could replace it many times for the price of the 'good' ones and that I likely wouldn't need to replace it that many times.

Based on that thread, however, I got nervous that my cheapo live center was going to die at the perfectly wrong time and leave me in the lurch. This resulted in my buying a spare one just in case. That spare is still in a drawer in our shop. Of course, the price on that cheapo live center has dramatically increased all the way to $14.95.

My point is, if you are having trouble with your live center, throw it in the trash can and buy a replacement. A cheapo replacement will be far better than the one you having trouble with.

i concur completely with Steven. i have 2 centers from amazon which were about $15 each. i have used the one since December of 2011 daily. yes when i run for a long time during the day it will get a little warm sometimes but still works fine. the other is still in the box never having been put on the lathe. if i have to replace it today the price is now $19.95. having been in the machinery world all my life i find that the difference in price is not usability or durability, but precision. either one of these would not have worked in the tolerances required for precision machining. they would not even hold a tolerance of .0005" much less .0001" i worked with routinely. but for pen making they are fine. and they are just as rugged and dependable as a $200 live center from a large manufacturer.
just my $0.02 worth.

 

[kooster]

John Goodin . . . johnnycnc Penturners Products . . . 'nuff said.

 

[RMayoIII]

if I'm not mistaken that little plate is just a dust cover to help prolong the bearing? I have a nice live center from a local machine shop supply company and they also recommended a drop of loctite on it to help hold it from backing off. As long as the bearing is ok you shouldn't have to replace out because of a loosening dust cover.