Need to find a machinist somewhere near the Binghamton NY to Syracuse NY corridor to dress up the tail piece center of an old wood lathe. The pin is blunted and off center and the cup is worn almost away. The piece is a threaded rod about 5/8. I can also mail it out. I mount this old tail stock downwind of my modern (1950's) lathe to turn long spindles. It works pretty good but as my skill improves I come up against the limits imposed by a center which will let my piece wander a teeny weeny bit.
need to find a machinist
Oct 22, 2003
6 Replies
Yellow Pages under 'M'. ;)
rec.crafts.metalworking
stick it in the chuck at low speed and file it down just as machinist would - only using a metal lathe.
Chuck the center up in your head stock and touch the point up with a course wet stone.
Mike
Is there enough metal to turn the pin and cup back a little to make them like new? Many tailstock cup centers use removable tapered pins. Curious to know what type of center this is, being a 5/8" threaded rod. Does it thread directly into the tailstock ram, or into a morse taper shank that fits into the ram? If you want to ship it to Wisconsin, I can do it for a reasonable cost.
Ken Grunke
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Bruce:
Having been the recipient of a relatively inexpensive lathe with a dead center (which I think you are describing) that wasn't effective anymore, I took it out of the tailstock and chucked it in a metal lathe, turned the nose to the inside diameter of a bearing I had on hand, and made a brass cone that press fit onto the outside diameter of the bearing. The resulting live center was ever so more pleasant to work with, and it worked out quite well for me until I passed the lathe on to a young and learning woodturner. If you can find someone in your area that has even a hobby grade metal lathe, he could probably do the same thing for you in about an hour. It would be so much better than the typical dead center you would be amazed.
I'm currently so busy I can't even get any woodturning done, or I'd offer to make one for you, but I would hate to commit to something I really don't have time to do. Better you find someone in your area if you can...
Just something to think about as an alternative.
--Rick
Bruce H wrote:
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