Motor turning, but the wood isn’t

[Johnny4]

Heya-

Got up and running on my old walker turner, but have hit a snag or two.

1) The tailstock has a dead center, not a live one. This has lead to burning on its end. I notice the telltale smell of burning wood, and about this time, the wood will stop spinning, but the motor continues to run. I don’t want to just crank down on the tailstock out of respect for the bearings on the headstock.

Any ideas? Will a live center clear most of this up?

Thanks,

John

[wdwerker]

I used hard carnuba wax with my dead center. But a live center is much better. 

[minorhero]

Just buy a live center. Your headstock is losing grip and "drilling" a path for the teeth to run in. When you are preparing your blank, do you put the headstock piece on the wood and hit it with a hammer to create some indentations?

[wdwerker]

I cut slots for the live center with the bandsaw so the teeth had a better bite. 

[Johnny4]

You guys are the best. Thanks so much for helping a newbie out.

[Marmotjr]

Also check to make sure your dead center is not a Live center that has died.  Had one of those with frozen bearings.    Might be able to loosen it up somehow if you can.    It was on an old old lathe that I had never used before, I just assumed it was a dead center till it broke free and started spinning one day. 

[wdwerker]

Clean it with some solvent then soak it in oil at least overnight, see if that helps break it loose. My the tip of my live center is just a cone. My dead center is a cone inside a cuppped ring with a sharp edge. 

[Johnny4]

Oh, it’s quite dead.

[Mark J]

Go with the wax suggestion until you can find a live center to replace it.

[wdwerker]

Pictures ? You've got one of the little Walker Turner lathes don't you ? Or are we talking about close to a ton of cast iron ?

[Johnny4]

Any suggestions on a live center? I’m looking at this one:

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/woodriver-60-degrees-ball-bearing-live-tailstock-center-2-morse-taper

 

heres the lathe in question

[wdwerker]

As long as you have a #2 taper it should be fine. It looks a bit different than mine, but it's at least 30 years newer and things change.

Neat old lathe, mines a 1950ish Rockwell/Delta. 

[Johnny4]

So....what did folks do back in the day before the live center was invented? I am pretty sure they had the same burning issues I’m having.

Also, how do I know the blank is tight enough on the lathe?

[Mark J]

I tink you might actually have the dead center too tight.  You do want to cut some grooves on the drive side of the spindle to give the star drive something to engage in.  And giving the star drive a tap or two is also a good idea.  After that the tail stock and dead center should not need to be that tight.  The wood will get burnished, but shouldn't get blackened.  

If the star drive is still tearing out it may be the wood is green or very soft?

[Johnny4]

So....what did folks do back in the day before the live center was invented? I am pretty sure they had the same burning issues I’m having.

Also, how do I know the blank is tight enough on the lathe?

[Johnny4]

On the drive side, I have one of those retractable point centers that has little tiny sawteeth cut in it. I had to replace the busted mt2 spur drive. It was not good and was rusted to the drive shaft.

[minorhero]

I have the live center you linked, or one very similar. It works fine but I only use it for making pens. Anything else I use a center that looks like this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000KICRCG/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1515026055&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=live+center&dpPl=1&dpID=31F6Cn3ZAzL&ref=plSrch

I prefer this style because the cone gives better grip and is less likely to cause splitting or deep indentations.

[wdwerker]

I started out as a kid on a 1940's Craftsman lathe with a dead center. You ran it in tighter with the lathe on its slowest speed and burned a recess for it. Shut off the lathe, backed out the dead center, melted the hard carnuba wax on the dead center, then ran it back in place. Every so often you had to tighten the dead center as the burnt hole wore. Adding wax helped too. I always cut the burnt end off after I was done turning.