Lathe noise

[brownsfn2]

Since I have gotten my Delta lathe the noise in my shop has dropped dramatically. The old reeves drive in my old HF lathe was just so noisy. One thing that I never noticed on my old lathe was how much noise my live centers made. Now that I have the delta and it runs so much quieter all I hear are the live centers. One of my live centers is even warm to the touch after it has been used a while.

Is there anything I can do about the live center noise? Any tips on lubricating or maintaining them? One is from PSI and the other came from HF with the old lathe. The one that came with the Delta seems pretty quiet.

If there is anything I can do to lubricate or clean these I would love to know. I am hoping there are instructions somewhere.

Thanks!

 

[glen r]

Have a look down the morse taper end and see if there is a screw down in it. If there is, remove the screw and add a few drops of thick oil in the hole. The oil that I used on mine was 90 weight differential oil. If there is no screw you may have a throw-away when it start getting too noisey or starts seizing up.

 

[watch_art]

Mine will squeal where the LC meets the blank. I take an old paint brush (a small one) and dab a little bit of cooking oil there, and that quiets it up.