Stuck lathe drive center

The drive center in my lathe always seems to tighten in too well. It takes far too much force to pop it back out. On occasion, I've had to resort to turning it with a pipe wrench before it would pop out. I originally thought I did something wrong, cranked in too hard on the tail stock, but it keeps happening. It has to friction fit or it won't turn anything, though. Any ideas?

Thanks, Jim

Reply to
Jim
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Have you tried applying gentle heat to the headstock spindle? It will expand it a bit and cause the drive center to loosen.

-G

"Jim" wrote in news:1111856074.701662.91890 @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Reply to
High Score

Is your lathe spindle hollow (mine is)? A long rod and a few good swats have always worked for me.

(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net

Reply to
DanG

Heating the spindle is a bad idea. In any case, it would get to be a real pain pulling out the torch every time you wanted to change centers. It should be tight. Use a heavy bar through the spinle for a knockout and it should pop right out. The knockout bar is far more effective than a wrench.

Reply to
CW

Run a wooden dowel or brass bar through the hole in the rear of the headstock and tap it with a mallet. max

Reply to
max

============== Mine is also hollow...and I do keep a 10 or so inch rod handy...really does not take a few "Good" swats to pop it freee...gentle taps

Bob Griffiths

Reply to
Bob G.

I hade the same problem with one of the lathes in my high school wood shop. The problem was short drive center. The center was made shorter by students hitting the center with a metal hammer, mushrooming and shortening the center length. When the center was inserted into the tail stock it would be to short to bottom out as the tail stock hand wheel was backed off. I disassembled the tail stock, removed the stuck drive center. I then had the metals teacher build up a weld on the drive center, ground to shape. Problem solved. Student know better than to use a metal hammer but doesn't listen.

Reply to
mgh

one thickness of typing paper between the fit up surfaces.

Reply to
bridger

I do have a knock out bar & yes, the shaft is hollow - it's a year old

14" Delta lathe & it comes with a light, steel bar with a plastic knob at one end. It works, but only if I've turned for a short length of time & haven't tightened the tailstock much at all. Otherwise, I have to lock the head, start cranking with the wrench & hit at the same time. It didn't start out this tight, but seems to have gotten tighter. The amount of force needed just isn't right. When the center pops out, it's like a bullet.

High Score, Thanks for the idea on the heat, but I'd rather not. Can't imagine that would be good for it. Might peel the finish & let it rust, not to mention all the sawdust around.

I've only been using a lathe for 2 years & my first one was a cheap HF one that I hated. Still, it didn't have this problem. I'm thinking I'm doing something dumb - I usually turn bowls, so this doesn't come up often. What about a few drops of oil?

brid, The typing paper would wrap around the shaft? Could you expand on that?

Again, thanks for the ideas. - Jim

Reply to
Jim

Check the condition of it. Then maybe fix it, or even buy a better one. A 2-prong is a useful upgrade over a 4 prong anyway.

Centres are driven out from the back, so a good one has a small reduced diameter section here. If there's any burring, then it doesn't cause a jam. Burred centres don't locate accurately or grip well unless you drive them in hard, and that obviously makes them hard to extract. Cheap ones don't always do this, or they just have a small chamfer. Take an angle grinder and turn a small reduced teenon onto the back of it.

There's also the question of hardness. A good centre has quite hard surfaces to the Morse taper. If it's too soft, then it's too "grabby" and also becomes hard to extract. A Morse taper relies on an accurate fit and little deformation of the centre - once you've knocked it ever so slightly loose of the taper's grip, it comes completely free.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

I know I get a little lazy sometimes and drive in the center with a ball-peen hammer instead of looking for a wodden mallet, and the end of the spur gets a bit mushroomed. I just grind a little of the burr off on the belt sander, and it works like a charm again. Obviously, this isn't the best thing to be doing, but it sure beats buying a new one.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

You gall the center? That's the only thing I've ever had problems with. If so, clean the surfaces up with some 400 wet/dry and lap the interior with some pumice.

I imagine the paper would bridge the worst of any galling.

Reply to
George

snip

That's your problem, the plastic on the end of the steel bar absorbs the shock of the hammer, use a solid drift

Reply to
TaskMule

It came stock with the machine, so it probably is a cheap one. I'll see if there's galling, but I've checked for that a while back & don't believe there is. I haven't tried grinding a taper on or cleaning it with 400 grit sandpaper. I'll try those to see if it helps, but cheap & soft is probably the problem, so I will buy a new one.

Thanks to all for all the ideas.

Jim

Reply to
Jim

I think the best knock out rod is brass (it is more dense than steel by a considerable margin). I have always just thrown the rod down the headstock hole to release the drive center. A longer rod will help also. Of course you will want one hand on the center to keep it from dropping and getting bunged up. Dave

Reply to
Dave W

Jim

Jim, I have the same lathe. Never heat or twist the spur to remove it. If you clean it up and remove all of the galling from both the headstock and the spur, re-install it with only a light tap from a wood mallet or scrap. If it fits properly it will hold very well. In addition, if you over-tighten the tailstock center, it will force the spur to deep as well.

Bottom line, a Morse taper get its holding power from slightly different tapers. A light touch in installing is all that is required.

Dave

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Reply to
Teamcasa

No.

Reply to
CW

I think his point was that the tapers aren't different; as you point out, the tapers are the same. At any given station through a male and a female MT, the diameters are identical if they are in contact, and not identical if they're not, which is a paraphrasing of your point. But the taper (the rate of change in diameter) is the same, which was his.

You're both right, just expressed it differently (and ambiguously).

Reply to
LRod

"CW"

I'll clarify, Morse Tapers, a known as a slow release taper, have 8 different tapers, mostly 5/8 inch per foot. A #2 Morse has a taper of .049950 minor size is .5720 and the major is .700 As these self centering tapers meet, the two gradual tapers join in slightly different points creating a wedge.

Simple answer is above.

Dave

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Reply to
TeamCasa

yep. just don't let it overlap. a little gap is file.

the paper compresses just a little bit to allow room for tiny burrs and mismatched tapers, and avoids the metal growing together. you might find it coming out too easily though...

Reply to
bridger

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