A couple Questions

[Tim Thiebaut]

While turning a piece of Purple Heart yesterday, man that block is HARD, I had a small catch that spun the block of wood on my spur drive, it bent the spurs right over on the drive center and was spinning free, who make a good quality spur drive? All I have is the one from Jet and it dosnt seem to sturdy.

When I use my Jacobs chuck to turn anything the slightest pressure causes the MT#2 to come loose from the headstock, can you a MT#2 that threads through the headstock so it dosnt come loose?

Thanks for any info! Tim

[Jim Burr]

I know the feeling Tim...try a 12" pepper mill from Purple heart!!! A Steb Center may do the trick, but I usually have a go with the mallet when setting the spur drive in real hard woods.
It's my understanding that a Jacobs chuck isn't for holding a piece being turned...simply for drilling. That being said, people will do what they feel comfortable with. I have never used it to hold a piece, just to drill.

[Tim Rinehart]

I've not had that happen with a spur drive (bending over the spurs) but can suggest that you use a bandsaw to cut a shallow groove in a criss-cross fashion to get the spurs into before turning really hard stuff that the spurs don't bite into.
(agree that Jacobs is really not a good option for turning, but some do and I only do once in a great while for something very small in diameter). You can get some jacobs chucks with threaded end that you can then hold tight in the morse taper. You really want to do everything you can to prevent either either the chuck or spur from turning inside the taper...it will foul it up and won't hold anything square over time. Keep it clean and check each time before placing anything in it.

So many sources of spurs...but I've never had to replace one yet. A good option that doesn't cost alot, is a steb center. I got one from Penn State and it wasn't more than $20, and does a nice job. The one I got can be held in a chuck so no issues with taper slipping, etc. Sorby has a very nice one...but costs more like $75.

Good luck and be sure your tools are nice and sharp and taking light cuts for those hard exotics like the purple heart.

[ray hampton]

I believe that some MT are drill and tap for a draw bolt which keep them from coming loose

[Tim Thiebaut]

Ok I will check out the Steb Center and see if it will work, thank you! As for the Jacobs, I saw a video and a gentelman had made and was useing a pin chuck to hold a small item, I forget what it was, so I made a couple of pin chucks as well, it is perfect for turning small pieces like knobs and things like that, and I used the Jacobs to hold the pin chuck.

I found it, here is the video, he was turning a duckcall with the pic chuck, and I guess I didnt notice but he is useing a collet chuck to hold it and not a jacobs, I guess I will have to look into a collet chuck and that seems the safer option.

Pin Chuck Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odu1cT3AwUE

[Dan Forman]

I love my collet chuck. I have a few steb centers, but they sometimes will just spin when the going gets tough, scoring a circle on the end grain. Best bet is to saw an X from corner to corner for the spurs on a standard spur drive to grab onto. You will need this anyway to make a tenon for the collet to hang on to. I just use a handsaw for this, never thought of using the bandsaw. I just got one of the Aprentice drive spurs from Craft Supplies, but haven't used it yet. It has a spring loaded center point, and sharpened spurs that look like they will dig into the wood better. Looks like Woodcraft has the same item.

Dan

[Tim Thiebaut]

Thanks Dan and everyone else, I will give that a show, I did try cutting an X into the wood with a wod chisel but it either wasnt deep enough or the wood was just so hard when it caught it just spun free of the spur center. I will try sawing an X into the wood next time, it may give me a much better grip that way. Woodcraft has a Beall collet set but it is almost 200 bucks for the set....yikes!

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use steb centers quite a bit and like them. I also use spur centers and have never had one bend on me.

[Ryan Baker]

A draw bolt will keep the chuck from falling out, but it will not prevent the taper from slipping inside the spindle if you torque it enough. That will eventually make a mess of the spindle taper. If you are doing anything that will put a lot of torque on the drive, it is always better to use a chuck or some other device that threads onto the spindle instead of using the taper.

I have bent center pins on drive spurs, but not the spurs themselves. A steb center, like the PSI one, works well. If you get a bad catch with one of those, the part will usually just spin. Tighten up the tailstock a bit and you are back off and running.

[Michael James]

Tim, that purpleheart will test your sharpening skills for sure. I've had success using the chuck, but you lose a little of your spindle that way.
Good luck!
mj