Lathe centers

[John D.]

Hi everyone!  Very new to turning (received the HF 34706 lathe as a gift for Christmas) and had a question about centers.  I've been using the ones that came with the lathe as I start to learn and practice different cuts, but have seen so many different styles of centers out there that I wondered if the lathe would benefit from better centers (I'm assuming the ones that HF supplies are not the best).  As of right now, I don't have a specific thing that I plan on turning.  

Some specific questions:

-What types of drive centers do you recommend?  I've seen a lot of discussion about steb centers, but wasn't sure if this would be a noticeable upgrade from the standard 4 prong center I use. 

-Are the centers that go in a chuck (rather than into the headstock) ok to use?  I have a Nova chuck and it seems like it would be nice to not have to mount and unmount the chuck as much.  

-What would I need to look for in a live center for the tail?  I see "kits" or "systems" that come with lots of attachments for the tail center, but don't know how useful these are or if they are selling it just to sell it.

Thanks for any info you can provide!

[chips ahoy]

John
Welcome to the turning world. I use a steb center and have for years and also use it in one of my chucks,actually using it now in my Nova G3. A lot of the turners prefer the two prong center over the 4.The tail stock live centers can be very useful,Oneyway is one of the better ones. I am sure someone else will be along to give you more information,you will get a lot of help here.

Mel

[diverjo]

John, as you are standing on the rim of the vortex, I would suggest that you invest in quality accessories for your lathe.  The Oneway live center is the best.  If the turning bug bites you, a lathe upgrade is coming.  Look for a turning club and join.  Turners are notorious for help newcomers to the craft.  We love to help you spend your money.
Joe

[NCPaladin]

For drive center I have the standard 4 prong, steb, 2 prong, and one to be used as a safety center.
I use the 4 prong for lighter spindle or bowl work; the steb is great for hardwood (especially face grain) as you do not need to seat it; I only use the 2 prong with very soft or punky bowl blanks as it is very easy to drive in deep.

As a second/next I would suggest the steb.
I have never used one in a chuck but it should work just fine.  I would suggest you remove your chuck fairly often to make sure it does not seize to the spindle.  Especially if you are turning very wet wood.


I have the Nova live center and never had a problem.  Other may be correct that the Oneway is the best.
However, the Nova has three sets of bearings compared to their two. 
With either you can make custom forms.  Unless they have changed, with the Oneway you drill a hole and cut threads in the wood; with the Nova you drill a hole and hammer in a tee nut.  With the tee nut you will always have metal to metal anytime you remount months or years later.
I understand you can lock the Oneway and use it in the headstock as a drive center.  But then you need another one to use in the tailstock as a live center.
The end of the Nova is 2mt.  If you take the cup & point out you can move it to the headstock..now it's a safety center.
If you remove the "threaded insert" you can move it to the headstock to use custom friction drives.  There are lots of options with the threaded insert for both the head and tailstock.

https://www.amazon.com/NOVA-5015-Center-...ive+center

[MichaelMouse]

I like the two-bladed spur for long grain work.  You need only an awl for a center point, and a saw kerf across through it.  Don't drive it.  Unnecessary if you seat the blades in the kerf.  Hammering is for 4 blade types where getting a true 90 degree set of kerfs is problematic.

Don't use spur centers on face grain.  they're not meant for it, and there's danger of dismount through cam out or catch and slide.  If you counterbore a tad you can overcome those, fortunately.  Or use your pin jaws with the nova.  They hold face grain well.  With a tailstock - the Nova is fine - you can spin up some decent size bowl stuff on them, the snug and make a mortise for reversing.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/G...n-Jaws.jpg


http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/G...wMount.jpg

[John D.]

Thank you for the input, everyone!  I am just now beginning to understand the vortex that everyone talks about.  I also appreciate the info about chucks seizing if not removed somewhat regularly (although I have yet to turn green wood, I am looking forward to that in the future).  For right now, I have been using remnants from other projects to practice. 

I think I will go with a steb center for my next one and had one more question.  I've heard people say that they buy the full size MT2 steb center and that they use this with their chuck still in place.  Is this possible?  I had always assumed that you would need to buy one of the small steb center chuck inserts (Example).

[Arlin Eastman]

Hi everyone!  Very new to turning (received the HF 34706 lathe as a gift for Christmas) and had a question about centers.  I've been using the ones that came with the lathe as I start to learn and practice different cuts, but have seen so many different styles of centers out there that I wondered if the lathe would benefit from better centers (I'm assuming the ones that HF supplies are not the best).  As of right now, I don't have a specific thing that I plan on turning.  

Some specific questions:

-What types of drive centers do you recommend?  I've seen a lot of discussion about steb centers, but wasn't sure if this would be a noticeable upgrade from the standard 4 prong center I use. 

-Are the centers that go in a chuck (rather than into the headstock) ok to use?  I have a Nova chuck and it seems like it would be nice to not have to mount and unmount the chuck as much.  

-What would I need to look for in a live center for the tail?  I see "kits" or "systems" that come with lots of attachments for the tail center, but don't know how useful these are or if they are selling it just to sell it.

Thanks for any info you can provide!

John

Welcome to woodturning and I so remember when I got here myself awhile back and I do think I had every question there could be asked I did.

I did use my four prong drive for 7 years and just went to the stub centers which I got from Penn State Ind.

I really do think you have everything you need now to do a lot of turning with.  I also only used the faceplate for 4 years before I even bought a chuck to.
I really do think if you use everything you have (Even tools since you probably still need to learn how to sharpen them) you will be fine until you want to upgrade later.  I did also use the HF lathe for a few years and used the reeves drive and when I wanted to turn bowls I found it lacking do to the low rpm of 500 which is still kind of fast unless you cut your blank pretty close to round on the bandsaw first and also only turn bowls of less then 8" too.

Ask any questions you may have now and in the future also since that is a good way to learn instead of getting hurt and then finding out how not to do that kind of work.

Also if you can join a woodworking club and we can find one for you if we know what city and state you live in.

Good luck for a wonderful future of turning.

[NCPaladin]

I've heard people say that they buy the full size MT2 steb center and that they use this with their chuck still in place.  Is this possible?  I had always assumed that you would need to buy one of the small steb center chuck inserts (Example).

If you are using your chuck then you need the one you linked to.  I always remove my chuck since my steb has the 2MT.
Maybe some folks can leave there chuck on but I don't think so with a Nova which mine are.  The steb center does not stick out very far so when you add the body of the chuck and the depth of the jaws it may not be usable except for very small diameter items.  I'm not even sure a 2MT steb would fit through the "mouth" of the chuck and I know I wouldn't want chuck jaws spinning around in the way.

[NCPaladin]

I though of something else that may be a consideration.
I ASSUME the steb for the Nova is for use with the standard 2" jaws.
I'm fortunate to have several chuck and the Pin jaws are one of my most used sets.  If I had to swap the chuck back to the 2" jaws just to use the steb center that would be a real PITA.

[Arlin Eastman]

NC

If you remember some chucks come with the screw and also with a center that goes in the chuck and the center is only about 2" long.