I am tired of live centers dying on me. What is the best

>>971723
how the fuck are you abusing them?


just use a bunch of dead centers and grind them down when necessary

>>971723
Dieing how? Are the bearings going to shit or what?

>>971741
Yup, I killed two of them. The ones I used just can't take the axial thrust of a real man.

They're the cheap Chinese sort. I feel like I need to go American made on this part even though I'm poor.

File: s-l1600[1].jpg (94KB, 1591x997px) Image search: [Google]

94KB, 1591x997px

>>971723
>>971775
Not OP. I have an old wood lathe and the live center's bearings on it is starting to give out. Anyone know how to get them out? I've seen videos where people undo a cap at the back of it and theres a screw inside but my live center does not have that.

>>971849

A lot of them are press fit. You need an arbor press or hydraulic press to get them off.

>>971853
Okay. Well, the back of it is solid, so how to I press it out?

If you look at my picture the cone spins in relation to everything else, which seems to be 'one piece' and doesn't come apart.

Why are there so many aluminum cones? They wear down so easily.

>>971872

You'd have to make some slots or holes in the back in order to push on the bearing.

It'd be a pain in the ass, but often times these things aren't supposed to come apart at all. You're kinda stuck if you don't have some tooling not usually found in the home shop, honestly. (I'm assuming this is for a wood lathe, because otherwise you'd just make your own.)

>>971881
In my case my old one is steel. Still sharp too. Its about 80 years old.

>>971882
Yeah, its for an old Craftsman wood lathe from the 40's. Getting live centers that fit the old tailstock are difficult. Its a MT 1 or 2 (I forget which) and a funny length.

>>971886
>and a funny length.

Tapers are defined by two circles a fixed distance apart. Morse taper 1 will always be 2.13", MT2 will be 2.56", etc.

I guess it could be some kind of modified taper, but IDK why they'd do that. Do you have calipers? If so, check to see if your existing center matches a standard taper:

http://littlemachineshop.com/reference/tapers.php

...and if it does, just grab one like:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MT2-MORSE-TAPER-LIVE-CENTER-CARBIDE-BEARING-CNC-/151016644335?hash=item23294b1eef:g:AyQAAOSwl9BWGEY6

Centers made for machining would be overkill for a wood lathe, but they're not that expensive and would probably last forever in the latter application.