Live/Dead Centers

[Fibonacci]

I am thinking really hard about starting to turn between centers. The biggest reason is that no matter what I do on the mandrel, I seem to get just a touch of offset and the ends don't line up quite the way I want.

I would like to sell some pens to get back some investment, but I won't sell a flawed thing.

Looking at live centers, the PSI one for $15 seems to get good reviews. Is this one recommended? If not, is there another inexpensive one that people like?

What about dead centers? I have been looking at one from grizzly, but their live centers get bad reviews, and being carbide tipped, I couldn't true a dead center if it was bad. Anyone with experience regarding these? Do people recommend a specific dead center?

 

[el_d]

http://www.penturnersproducts.com/

JohnnyCNC Great guy/Member to deal with. He also has the bushings and the delrin finishing bushings that work great. If you can get you the bushings with the centers and you wont be disapointed.

It removed all of my slop ......

 

[workinforwood]

I would buy them from Johnny CNC, penturnersproducts.com and then I would also work on your lathe alignment, because even though turning between centers will be better in many ways, if the alignment is off, you will be out of round.

 

[Daniel]

Ditto Johnny, He is a penturner and can set you up. One stop shopping. I've asked him for a couple of things that he nornmally doesn't sell. He got them in short order for me.

 

[chrisk]

+1 on Johnny. Great guy to deal with. And his products are top of the line in terms of accuracy.

 

[KenV]

My take is a bit different -- For Turning Between Centers (TBC) a dead center is a dead center with no moving parts. A carbide dead center is OK -- but not needed here as you are using the dead center as a friction drive and the tip will not be used to support a turning.

John Goodin (JohnnyCNC) sells a most adequate dead centers -- with and without carbide tips for a competitive price. What John does sell that is valuable is the bushing made for TBC. There are other ways to make TBC work - but especially for starting out, it is hard to beat his bushings.

Tail stocks --- got there having tried several others, but best tailstock for all around use in my experience is the Nova tailstock. It comes with a 60 degree center as part of the package and has a lot of other ends and adaptations for other turning uses.

I asked John Goodin to take a look at making a through insert to make the Nova live center into a mandrel saver. Takes a 0.246-0.248 through hole on a short MT2 and life is good. Hope John can do that as he progresses and recovers from being hit by an SUV -- My micro metal lathe does not do tapers easily.

 

[Dana Fish]

I just ordered for johnny CMCC. Great service super quick shipping.

 

[bgio13]

+1 for johnnycnc, his products as well as his services are top notch.

 

[Dave Turner]

I bought the Grizzly cone dead center and it is of high quality and works great. The cone live center that came with my lathe is aluminum, so I bought this Woodcraft cone live center, which also works great. I recommend both of these.

I don't use any bushings when turning between centers. The brass tubes rest on the cones. This eliminates an expense and a potential source for error. I use a caliper measurement for an exact fit. If you need to, you can use the next larger size open end wrench as a feeler gauge to get you close to the diameter you want.

Dave

 

[bitshird]

Here is another vote for Johnny and http://www.penturnersproducts.com , great guy and a heck of a machinist.

 

[DozerMite]

Got all of my stuff from John a few years ago and it is still like new even after a couple hundred pens along with some other things.
I now have the live center on my metal lathe until I can get another one.

 

[Lenny]

I cast my vote for Johnnycnc (*raises BOTH hands)

His bushings are the best and his Eliminator bushings make removing the pen blank, after applying a CA finish, worry free ! :wink:

 

[Mac]

I am thinking really hard about starting to turn between centers. The biggest reason is that no matter what I do on the mandrel, I seem to get just a touch of offset and the ends don't line up quite the way I want.

I would like to sell some pens to get back some investment, but I won't sell a flawed thing.

Looking at live centers, the PSI one for $15 seems to get good reviews. Is this one recommended? If not, is there another inexpensive one that people like?

What about dead centers? I have been looking at one from grizzly, but their live centers get bad reviews, and being carbide tipped, I couldn't true a dead center if it was bad. Anyone with experience regarding these? Do people recommend a specific dead center?

I noticed you ask about both live and dead centers.
That could be one reason, for your out of round or a little off, could be that you did not use a 60 degree live center with your pen mandrel to start with. The centers that comes with all (that I know of) lathes, will not mate with a pen mandrel. Pen mandrels have a concave that is 60 degrees.DAMHIT. I would also check pen parts for out of roundness. And another thing is the bushings that come with kits are sometimes out of round.DAMHIT. Am not trying to change your mind about turning in between centers, I do all the time. But just trying to help you solve a problem, that will, maybe, help you in the future. Sometimes throwing money at a problem will not help. Personally I would want to know, what is wrong.

 

[Fibonacci]

I am thinking really hard about starting to turn between centers. The biggest reason is that no matter what I do on the mandrel, I seem to get just a touch of offset and the ends don't line up quite the way I want.

I would like to sell some pens to get back some investment, but I won't sell a flawed thing.

Looking at live centers, the PSI one for $15 seems to get good reviews. Is this one recommended? If not, is there another inexpensive one that people like?

What about dead centers? I have been looking at one from grizzly, but their live centers get bad reviews, and being carbide tipped, I couldn't true a dead center if it was bad. Anyone with experience regarding these? Do people recommend a specific dead center?

I noticed you ask about both live and dead centers.
That could be one reason, for your out of round or a little off, could be that you did not use a 60 degree live center with your pen mandrel to start with. The centers that comes with all (that I know of) lathes, will not mate with a pen mandrel. Pen mandrels have a concave that is 60 degrees.DAMHIT. I would also check pen parts for out of roundness. And another thing is the bushings that come with kits are sometimes out of round.DAMHIT. Am not trying to change your mind about turning in between centers, I do all the time. But just trying to help you solve a problem, that will, maybe, help you in the future. Sometimes throwing money at a problem will not help. Personally I would want to know, what is wrong.

I am currently using a mandrel saver rather than a live center because I got one from a buddy who decided to get an adjustable mandrel instead.