Live tailstock chuck adapter?

[Robert D Evans]

I've recently gotten into segmented turning and in order to do hollow forms, I need to make the item in two halves. Then eventually, glue them together. I'm looking for some way to mount the chuck on the tailstock so I can glue the two halves accurately and put pressure on the glue joint. I've found one for a 1" thread but I can't find anything in 1 1/4" 8 tpi. The tailstock chuck will need to rotate so I can aline the segments. This live center would also be very useful for putting on rings with cole jaws.

There are live center drill chucks. I guess I could chuck up some sort of spindle adapter in a drill chuck but that seems like a lot of room for misalignment. On my first and only segmented hollow form, I used a glue block that was threaded for the spindle. After turning, I used my 60 degree cone in the glue block spindle hole to join the pieces together and do the final turning. There has got to be an easier way.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

There are several varieties with the easiest to find fitting in a One Way live center.

https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/bestwoodtools/SS2018.pdf this is almost at the bottom of a long page 39.95

https://www.harrisonspecialties.com/chuck-reversing-adapter-for-wood-turning-lathe/ Much cheaper at 29.95

https://www.packardwoodworks.com/112617.html and at Packard nice looking at 42.95

 

[Timothy White]

Here’s One http://wizardjigs.com/adapters/

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Nova also sells an adapter that fits into their live center. The LC comes as part of a set with a variety of attachments. Note the Morse taper 2 on the adapter is short so as to fit into the live center. You'll find it at Nova's web site with some digging.

Best Wood Tools also has an adapter with a longer MT2 stem. I believe it will fit the Oneway LC.

 

[Robert D Evans]

It looks like I'm going to have to invest in a Oneway live center to make this work like I want it to. I was hoping there was a standalone, simple, cheap tool to solve my problem. Once again, my dreams were dashed.

I think the Oneway live center and adapter is probably the best way to go. Having the right tool for the job makes things easier.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

I've seen it and it's a nice piece of kit. I think you'll be happy to have it.

 

[Gary Beasley]

I have the Oneway live center and the adaptor, they work great with one caveat, I find I have to shim the front end of the tailstock up with a couple of tabs of sandpaper to get pieces to center properly on my vacuum chuck. Best I can see its from a slight amount of slack in the live center bearings that let the piece sag a bit from center. Ive checked the point to point alignment and its good so its all in the bearing movement, which were obviously not designed for this kind of operation.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

It looks like I'm going to have to invest in a Oneway live center to make this work like I want it to. I was hoping there was a standalone, simple, cheap tool to solve my problem. Once again, my dreams were dashed.

I think the Oneway live center and adapter is probably the best way to go. Having the right tool for the job makes things easier.

Thanks for the help.

The Robust Live Center works as well:
http://www.turnrobust.com/product/live-center/

And you can get the threaded adapter you need from him as well.

 

[Lars Hansen]

@Gary: I have had the same experience with the Oneway and went for the Nova system. That has proven itself reliable a few years now with no sign of play in the bearings.
BTW I had to change all bearings in my Sorby StepJaws after 2-3 years of moderate use (no really heavy loads in any direction EVER). Disappointing. No other markings on the original bearings than "Taiwan". Now they are SKF.

 

[Tom Gall]

I've recently gotten into segmented turning and in order to do hollow forms, I need to make the item in two halves. Then eventually, glue them together. I'm looking for some way to mount the chuck on the tailstock so I can glue the two halves accurately and put pressure on the glue joint. I've found one for a 1" thread but I can't find anything in 1 1/4" 8 tpi. The tailstock chuck will need to rotate so I can aline the segments. This live center would also be very useful for putting on rings with cole jaws. .

Oneway also sells an adaptor for their live center (3/4"x10tpi - which I believe is the same for Robust and Powermatic).
https://oneway.ca/Live Centre Adaptor 3-4"-10 TPI to 1 1-4"-8 TPI

If you don't have any of the above live centers - a cheaper way to go is to buy a MT2 adaptor with your threads on it for the chuck (I believe included in one of the links above). It doesn't need to rotate to align the segments....you can just rotate the part on the headstock. Unless I'm just not understanding the problem!

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

The Robust Live Center works as well:
http://www.turnrobust.com/product/live-center/

And you can get the threaded adapter you need from him as well.

Interesting. I have a 20 year old Oneway live center and get quite different results. Using the setup shown in the pictures, I found that over 20 pounds of downward pressure on the chuck jaws produced no visually detectable downward movement. Rotating the chuck did produce a very slight movement, but undoubtedly is due to runout of the chuck or the gripping of the spur drive center.

 

[Robert D Evans]

I'll need the chuck on the tailstock to rotate. I'll use my Record Power chuck on the tailstock since it sounds like there might be some slight deflection with the weight of my Stronghold chuck. I'll be sure to test for deflection when I get it set up.

Another thing I can use this for is when I join two halves of a hollow form, I want to be able to hold them together by pressure and turn the outside seam. Then seperate the two halves and finish the inside seam to a uniform thickness and glue them together.

Thanks for all the advise. Our local turning club is in quarantine and only meets on Zoom. I don't have anybody to ask when I run into a problem situation. My wife ignores me and the dog just wants to take a nap.

 

[Lars Hansen]

@ Dennis: I know and respect Oneway for their very robust products, so I was very disappointed. Maybe the bearings were higher quality back when your's was made.
- - -
This is my Nova system mounted. It still carries a Vicmarc 120 (4½") without problems or "dipping".

 

[Mike Johnson]

I use one similar to this one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Woodworkin...783949?hash=item3d978077cd:g:cqIAAOSwlFFdz0r1

 

[Robert D Evans]

I use one similar to this one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Woodworkin...783949?hash=item3d978077cd:g:cqIAAOSwlFFdz0r1

Mike, I was looking for something like this but I can't find one that has 1 1/4" x 8 tpi threads. There are several available for 1". That's ok. I've been wanting a Oneway live center anyway and this just gives me an excuse. I can use the Oneway live center accessories for other things too. It's only money. If I don't spend it, the kids will.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

@ Dennis: I know and respect Oneway for their very robust products, so I was very disappointed. Maybe the bearings were higher quality back when your's was made.
- - -
This is my Nova system mounted. It still carries a Vicmarc 120 (4½") without problems or "dipping".

Lars, not to question your and Gary’s observations regarding the Oneway live center “droop”, but you don’t describe the circumstances in which it was observed, and I wonder if there could be other factors involved. A direct test for bearing looseness would be bring the live center up to a center held in the headstock and compare the motion obtained by pressing down and then up on the back end of the spindle to that obtained by pressing down and then up on the adjacent end of the outer barrel with the same force. This might need to be repeated for a few different rotation angles.

Depending on the circumstances in which the apparent droop is observed, there are several other factors that might mimic the effect of bearing “droop”. These include a burr or dirt on the Morse taper that prevents it from seating properly, tailstock not firmly locked down, allowing it to rock, bending of the tailstock itself in the case of light-weight lathes, and run-out of chucks if they are involved in the measurement.

A bit of runout in a Chuck is not uncommon unless specific steps are taken to avoid it when the jaws are mounted. Ordinarily, this is not a problem unless one is turning small objects that involve using both the chuck and the tailstock and require reversing and remounting. To eliminate (or minimize) runout when installing jaws, do the following: Snug up the mounting screws but do not tighten them. With the chuck mounted on the lathe, lightly grip a suitable round object held the tailstock that is known to be concentric with the headstock spindle and tighten the mounting screws one by one a little at a time. Note that it is not enough that the object be round, it must be concentric as well. For mounting my pin jaws, I grip the threaded nipple on the Oneway live center, which on my lathe is known to be concentric.

 

[Lars Hansen]

@Dennis: In no way did I/we perform a serious test. My friend complained about the problem and I honestly didn't believe him. When I visited him, we were using a Vic100 (direct M33 thread) chuck on the Oneway live centre (via same type of adapter as on my photo) mounted in the mk2 taper of a Vicmarc tailstock (locked firmly) with the quilll only so far out that the live centre was held absolutely steady.
The vertical play was easy to feel with the chuck on but difficult to tell without it.
Sorry, can't get closer to a possible explanation.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Interesting. I have a 20 year old Oneway live center and get quite different results. Using the setup shown in the pictures, I found that over 20 pounds of downward pressure on the chuck jaws produced no visually detectable downward movement. Rotating the chuck did produce a very slight movement, but undoubtedly is due to runout of the chuck or the gripping of the spur drive center.

View attachment 33063 View attachment 33064

I too have a 20 plus years old Oneway live center and experienced that problem when the original bearing wore out, however the bearing is easy to remove and is an industry standard metric bearing.
On the main subject what is the difference between making a hollow form from a solid piece of wood or a segmented piece? I have done many both ways and always hollowed from the top with out any problems, in fact it seams easier with the segmented because the cut is with the grain rather then across.
( I must confess that I don't believe in the dinky little out of proportion openings and I do put threaded lids on them also).

 

[GRJensen]

I use a 'Live Tailstock Chuck Adapter' that I bought from Penn State a number of years ago.

I use it with both 1" x 8tpi chucks or, with an adapter my 1-1/4" x 8tpi chucks. I often mount my Cole Jaws on it and use to center rings as a glue up segmented pieces.
https://www.pennstateind.com/store/LTCA18.html