Drive Center Question

[Robert Arnold]

Does anyone make an extended 2MT drive center that can be put in the headstock while a 4 jaw chuck is still on the lathe. It would need to be longer than a standard drive center so it can extend beyond the jaws of the chuck.

 

[hockenbery]

I use a Morse taper extender
Also called a x2 to #2 adapter.
it is a #2 socket on a #2 taper.

I use mine to seat a spur drive in open cavities to rough hollowforms.
Mine would fit inside the center hole of my Chuck but have never used it that way.
I have several drives like the big bite that I can lock in my Chuck jaws,

Packard has them as do craft supplies and oneway

 

[Richard Coers]

I thought most every chuck manufacturer made a drive spur that clamped in the 4 jaw chuck. I know One-Way does, I've used it that way for decades.

 

[Timothy Allen]

You can also get drive centers that mount in the chuck, rather than seating in the spindle taper.

a group of chuck-mount steb centers here: https://www.packardwoodworks.com/lathes-acc-cent-chstebctr.html



and from Oneway: https://oneway.ca/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_69_174

 

[Robert Arnold]

I use a Morse taper extender
Also called a x2 to #2 adapter.
it is a #2 socket on a #2 taper.

I use mine to seat a spur drive in open cavities to rough hollowforms.
Mine would fit inside the center hole of my Chuck but have never used it that way.
I have several drives like the big bite that I can lock in my Chuck jaws,

Packard has them as do craft supplies and oneway
View attachment 36417

These do not work with some of the Vicmarc chucks. The center hole in the chuck is not large enough to allow the extender to pass through deep enough to seat.

 

[Robert Arnold]

You can also get drive centers that mount in the chuck, rather than seating in the spindle taper.

a group of chuck-mount steb centers here: https://www.packardwoodworks.com/lathes-acc-cent-chstebctr.html

View attachment 36420

and from Oneway: https://oneway.ca/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_69_174

View attachment 36418

These also do not work with some of the Vicmarc chucks and jaws.

 

[Larry Copas]

Shop made. The one on the right clamps in the chuck jaws. I hardly ever use it. The one on the left is a clone of the Oneway Big Bite except I made it to fit my Vicmarc chucks. I have one for the 100 and 120 chucks and use it all the time. It's great!

 

[Clifton C]

https://www.woodworkersemporium.com/Vermec_ACC-199/

 

[john lucas]

I have 3. Dont know where I got the 2 prong and 4 prong drive centers bit I use a 1" copy of the steb center I got from Pennstateind. I havent checked and dont use my other small.drive centers in my chuck but I think they all stick out further than my jaws. As long as the enter has a shoulder bigger than the Morse taper it should work.

 

[hockenbery]

These do not work with some of the Vicmarc chucks. The center hole in the chuck is not large enough to allow the extender to pass through deep enough to seat.

good point.
The one i have works with a Vicmarc 120 and the ONEWAY stronghold

 

[Tom Hansen]

Hockenbery, what is your process for removing something that is seated in your morse taper extension? I have used my extension a few times and had a hell of a time removing the second taper from the extension. I have a slot on the side I insert a screwdriver for leverage, even drilled a hole in a bench to whack the screwdriver on but it's extremely difficult at best.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Hockenbery, what is your process for removing something that is seated in your morse taper extension? I have used my extension a few times and had a hell of a time removing the second taper from the extension. I have a slot on the side I insert a screwdriver for leverage, even drilled a hole in a bench to whack the screwdriver on but it's extremely difficult at best.

The slot on the side of the extended socket is for a drift (a drift is a tapered piece of steel about 1/4" thick and tapered from about 3/8" up to about 1"). to use the drift support the extender on non marring material like 2 x 4 then put the small end into the slot and wacke it with a hammer being careful that whatever you are removing does not end up on the floor.

 

[Tom Hansen]

Whoa! Always wondered what those things in my fathers toolbox were for when I was growing up. Thanks Don

 

[hockenbery]

Hockenbery, what is your process for removing something that is seated in your morse taper extension? I have used my extension a few times and had a hell of a time removing the second taper from the extension. I have a slot on the side I insert a screwdriver for leverage, even drilled a hole in a bench to whack the screwdriver on but it's extremely difficult at best.

What Don said. Drift pin& mallet

 

[john lucas]

A drift pin only works if what you put in the morse taper is long enough to extend into the drift pin opening. I was using my morse taper extension one time with a drill bit that had a taper and it didn't extend all the way to the hole. I had to put vice grips on the drill bit and hit it with a mallet to pop the morse taper free.

 

[Clifton C]

Same thing happened to me John, I dropped two 1/2 in hex nuts in the hole then used the drift...

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The normal mores taper as used by the metal working machinists has a flat end that fits in the flat area near the drift slot thereby preventing the MT from spinning and providing the extension needed for the drift. The MT extensions are nothing new however they were designed for use in metal working machines and have only recently been marketed to wood turners. The lack of the flat end can be solved if the MT has a 3/8-16 female thread by screwing a bolt into the end, then cut the head off and grind flats to fit into the MT socket, then the drift should work.