What is your favorite drive center?

[Jon McElwain]

I am soliciting comments on drive centers. There are many varieties; 4 prong, 2 prong, multi tooth, safe drivers and others. Most lathes come with an OME drive center of some sort, but the one that comes with the lathe may or may not suit your tuning needs. It seems like one of those items many of us upgrade upon purchasing a lathe, but usually it is an experiment to see what works for us. Please include a description of the type of center(s) you use, what type of turning you do with it, and perhaps a comment on fit and finish for various manufacturers.

I am looking forward to hearing your comments! Thank you!

Jon

[Richard Bell CA]

Jon:

I have been turning some relatively large pieces (50-100 lb), and the standard drive center quickly turns into a boring bit. Also, the headstock end of my lathe is close to a garage door, so i always had to slide the headstock out to use the knockout bar. The Stubby center solved both problems for me. Since it screws onto the spindle threads, I don't have to use a knockout bar. An added benefit is eliminating the possibility of spinning the drive in the morse taper. The center is very well made, and Bill Rubenstein was very patient in answering my questions about it. The main benefit is it doesn't slip. Overall, a very worthwhile purchase for me.

http://stubbylatheusa.com/Convertible_Drive_Center.100.pdf

For smaller stuff, Oneway makes a nice drive center that mounts in their scroll chuck.

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12720

These two drive centers cover all of my needs, I never use the stock drive anymore.

Good luck

Richard

[Tony De Masi]

I used the stock center that came with my lathe for a very short time. I have since used a Sorby1" steb center drive. Quite good in it's grip but will release if you catch. DAMHIKT

[Doug Wolf]

I bought a Jet Stebcenter a couple years ago and really like it. It has a #2 morse taper plus it has a flat section between the center and the start of the morse taper that fit perferctly in my SuperNova chucks, so I can use it without removing the chuck. Its similar to this one but has the flat section before the taper starts. The center point is spring loaded so it doesn't go into the wood very far and you can back off the tail center and remove the piece without stoping the lathe.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/woodturners/Images/products/main/stebcenter.jpg (javascript:PopupPic('/products/large/stebcenter_l.jpg');)

[Wally Dickerman]

My preference is the Sorby Steb center. My second choice would be a 2-prong center which IMO is much better than the standard 4 prong.

Wally

[Steve Kubien]

I use a 4-prong from PSI. The prongs enter at a sharp angle and grab really nicely.
As an aside, I have never understood using anything other than a drive which fits in a morse taper. How can you drive one of the chuck mounted centres into the piece and still mount it in the chuck accurately? Same goes for the Stubby one. You don't rely on the tailstock to drive the spurs, do you? Isn't that hard on the bearings. I must be missing something really simple here.

[Dennis Ford]

I use a Penn State version of the multi-tooth drive for spindles or small bowl blanks. The center point is spring loaded and the teeth provide a good grip. For large bowl blanks, I use a homemade drive that threads onto the spindle (it is just 2 prongs welded onto a modified nut).

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use and like the steb center Doug shows.

[Mark Levitski]

I bought a Oneway Big Bite chuck spur for big stuff (a different product than what Richard mentioned), but usually just use a generic 4-prong morse taper for between centers (I begin most of my bowls and hollow forms between centers). I almost went with the Stubby, but got the Big Bite instead.

[George Clark]

Steb Center for most projects. Oneway safety drive with the spring removed for some spindle projects.

[David DeCristoforo]

In my limited experience, the "multi tooth" centers (like the "Steb" center) are really good for most woods. But for softer woods or "punky" woods like some spalted pieces can be, the small teeth will strip pretty easily. For those, I like the "4 prong" center which can bite a bit deeper.

[Michael Mills]

I don’t play favorites. :)
A four prong came with my lathe and it works well.

Can you hear them? Those sweet lovely harmonies of the vortex? An a-cappella performed by Stubbs, Jamieson, Grumbine, Lacer, Keys, and many others.
Got a steb (multi tooth) center next. Works great for hard/dry wood without having to set it prior to mounting. Two from Amazon for $29.95 – free shipping. Think they are PSI.
Turned a very punky bowl and buried the steb completely (the wood was so soft it was moving over the spindle threads when I finally looked at it). I was watching from the tailstock side and kept cranking the livecenter and not watching the drive center.

"Stop, children what’s that sound…." Is it….no it not Jefferson Airplane…its, its the Siren Song of the Vortex. Again!
Got a two prong – solved that punky problem. Can seat that sucker ¾ inch deep in green/punky wood with a thick oak spacer and a three-pound mallet.

Is that a flute I hear? Must be Jethro Tull?. No I recognize it …. I run screaming from my shop. Safe. Whew, that was a close one. Evermore diligent from the one known as "The Pied Piper of the Vortex"
Safety driver…think I can come up with one if I need one. Alan Lacer showed re-filing his on the lathe then taking a dremel to make dips. I would file off the teeth on one of my stebs leaving only a little bite. Of course I will have to use a punch or drill for the center point in the wood (since the center point retracts) to keep from losing the work in a catch.

So, after all of that, if I could have only one. :confused: Refer to sentence two.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

Jon
I too do a lot of Large turnings up to 450 plus lb logs. I use a 2" dia. 2 prong drive that fits into my chuck so I don't have to remove the chuck. I must say I also use it on pieces as small as 3" dia. This pretty much covers about 98 percent of my turnings.

[Thomas Canfield]

I also use the PSI multi tooth spring loaded center, both 5/8" and 1" diameter for hard woods. I recentlyy bought a 2 prong drive from PSI that I have used on some bowl blanks up to 10" diameter. The 2 prong work well in a 1" diameter recess to adjust the presentation of the bowl with the prongs driven parallel to the grain on side grain. The multi tooth drives can become a drill on soft woods and agressive cutting. I prefer the use screw in chuck for larger blanks along with using the live center in the tailstock as much as possible, and use Thin CA to help firm up the wood for contact with screw. It seems that wood that can be chewed up by a drive can also be pulled off a screw.

[Don Geiger]

I have two sizes of the steb centers and they work great on small dry wood. I start everything between centers and turn mostly large asymetrical pieces and got really tired of having the original small diameter 4-prong drive spur spinning in the wood. I found a large diameter 5-prong drive spur about 6 or 7 years ago that has 1-1/4" X 8 female threads (see photo below) and use it at really every opportunity I can. Unfortunately the one I use is out of production. Fortunately, Bill Rubenstein, at Stubby lathes USA, came out with one that is comparable in size and screws onto the spindle like mine, but also has removable blades so you can sharpen them.

I encourage anyone that is turning green asymetrical large pieces of wood to consider a drive spur such as Bill offers. I know that if I ever lost mine, I would buy one of Bill's in a heartbeat.

Don Geiger

177754

[Frank Drew]

I've never used any of the more recently designed drive centers, but I never found any reason to be dissatisfied with my 4 prong centers. I found that keeping the bevels nicely sharpened improves their grip.

[Chris Stolicky]

Since I once broke the teeth on one of the standard versions, I do not typically use that version much anymore. And that was on my 1014i!

I have a 5/8" sorby steb center and it is nice, but like most sorby tools, I think it costs too much for what it is actually is. I would actually like a larger steb center for larger spindles. I have been contemplating the Woodriver version that WC sells that fits into my chuck. Its like $17.

A while ago I convinced my self that I needed one of these:
http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=packard&Product_Code=112833&Category_Code=lathes-acc-cent-quic
And it is great. I use it all of the time with wet wood. But it is pricey. The big bite oneway came out with looks like it would work just fine for large pieces, and its relatively inexpensive.

What I have discovered as far as smaller spindle turning goes, is that you can't go wrong with one of these:
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=251-3062&PMPXNO=2606550&PARTPG=INLMK32
Best bang for the buck.

I have seen the driver Don mentioned above. It is really nice and wouldn't mind having one. The only drawback I see is that if you are using it for bowl turning, you have to take it off and remount your chuck every time. I guess its a matter of preference. The thing is nicely machined though!

One more thing, those face plate drivers that have been mentioned in a couple of threads lately look like a pretty good idea. Just make sure you use good steel screws!