Chuck reversing adapter

[Jake Helmboldt]

I need to get a chuck reversing adapter to line up pieces to mount on my vacuum chuck. Do any of you use a live reversing adapter for any purpose? I plan to get the one made by Harrison Specialties which mounts in a tailstock chuck vs one with a morse taper. The one with the shank could also be used in a live chuck as well. But I don't know if there is really much use for a live reversing adapter. Thoughts?

Thanks, Jake

[Edward Weber]

Are you talking about these https://oneway.ca/index.php?route=product/category&path=119

I use one quite often for alignment on a vacuum chuck or multi piece assemblies on segmented work. There are lots of uses.

[Dan Hunkele]

If you have a threaded live center such as the OneWay Best Wood Tools will make an adapter for it. That's what I did.

https://bestwoodtools.stores.yahoo.net/

[Walter Mooney]

I too have the adapters from BWT — one each for the two different threads in chucks I have — 1” and 1-1/4”. They are great!

[tom lucas]

I have a fixed one with MT2 that goes in tailstock, and a live one that is made for Nova live centers (stubby MT2). I use the Nova one most often because I can spin the work piece easily to check for true. Can even power on the lathe with the live center version; just keep it slow. Probably handy for certain router or carving tasks too.

[Edward Weber]

Example
(only photo I could find)
472851

[Jake Helmboldt]

Thanks all. Mainly I'm wondering how useful a live reversing adapter is. The Harrison product (link below) mounts in a tailstock drill chuck and in turn my scroll chuck can then be mounted with a bowl to line up onto the vacuum chuck. That could be used with either a live tailstock chuck, or a fixed one. The other option would be a reversing adapter with a morse taper that isn't live, and thus is only able to line up the bowl on the vac chuck. I'm just wondering whether the live capability offers any real function. Since I'll be using it to line up a bowl on my vac chuck it will be centered, even if warped.

https://www.harrisonspecialties.com/chuck-reversing-adapter-for-wood-turning-lathe/

[David Walser]

Jake -- The 'live' capability might be of some use, depending on your workflow. Rubber Chucky Products has a lot of examples of creative chucking mounts for use with a live center. For example, if you turn spheres, you may want a cup drive center and a cup live center. Rubber Chucky, and others, sell pre-made cup centers for this purpose. Or, you can make your own out of wood. If you make your own, having a tenon or mortise that fits in your 4-jaw chuck would make it easy to mount on your lathe's headstock and tailstock. That's an example of how the ability to mount your 4-jaw chuck to your live center might be attractive. (I mentioned Rubber Chucky because, in addition to cup centers, they also sell many other specialized chucking mounts that are 'live'.)

The problem with using this live capability with a 4-jaw chuck is that most live centers are not designed for use with the weight of a 4-jaw chuck. The jury is out on whether the bearings of a particular live center can withstand the loads from use with a 4-jaw chuck.

[Dave Mount]

I'm not sure I'm getting all the terminology, but I have one of these:

472855

from https://www.pennstateind.com/store/LTCA18.html

and absolutely love having it, and I don't even have a vacuum system. The biggest thing I use it for is compression chucking various shapes, most commonly spheres, but lots of other things too. You can buy a beall threader and make blocks of wood that thread right on, or something mounted in a chuck, or mounted to a faceplate. When turning larger platters, especially when the tenon is small compared to the diameter, I'll use this to apply pressure toward the headstock and reduce vibration if I don't want to/can't use a regular live center. It can also be used to center a drilled workpiece where you need to turn right off the end (e.g., the top of a peppermill knob); I just turn a taper on a waste block that fits down the drilled hole. If you run your gouge down into it, no problem, it's just waste wood.

Here's an example of a waste block in a chuck on the threaded live center -- this is a lathe tool handle and I'm sizing the end for a ferrule (the center is drilled already and the waste block extends down the hole). You can see that I can just cut right into the waste block. I'd have to be much more careful if using a metal cone center, plus the cone center wants to force the wood apart and split it; the blunt end on the waste block doesn't have any wedging action. Same kind of thing can be used if shaping the top of the knob on a peppermill.

472857472858

Here's a threaded piece on the live center to hold spheres for multi-axis turning:

472859472860

I think they're great. The one I bought from Penn State almost assuredly has a cheap bearing in it. After *a lot* of use, there's some play in the bearing. So far I can just turn up the speed and eliminate the wobble, but I'll probably have to replace the bearing in the foreseeable future, or spend a little more money on one that has better components.

Best,

Dave

[Edward Weber]

Live Center Adapter

The term "reversing" is misleading.
No matter if you have any of the three versions liked to or pictured above, they all do the same thing.
A simple device that allows you to mount a chuck on the tailstock
Many use the adapter I linked to because we already had a Oneway style live center.
Others are stand alone MT mounted devices like the PSI one and the last is just an adapter with a straight shaft that can be mounted in a three jaw drill style chuck.

There are dead center versions that can only be used for alignment, not for use under power.

[tom lucas]

I think the net answer is that a live center reversing adapter offers some capabilities not possible with a fixed reversing adapter.

[Robert Hayward]

After *a lot* of use, there's some play in the bearing. So far I can just turn up the speed and eliminate the wobble, but I'll probably have to replace the bearing in the foreseeable future, or spend a little more money on one that has better components.

Best, Dave

Here (https://www.vermec.com/store/p33/Threaded_Live_Centres%C2%A0_MT2_Revolving.html) is a top quality one.

[Dave Mount]

Thanks for the pointer Robert. Do you know how many bearings are in the Vermec? Seems like having two would help with robustness. Could go the Oneway route with the adaptor, but similar to how I don't generally change chuck jaws I just buy more chucks and leave the jaws on them, the Oneway live center with the adaptor is circa $175 USD. The Vermec appears to be about $115 USD shipped. I couldn't find a US distributor for the Vermec. Woodworker's Emporium carries a lot of Vermec gear, but that that one.

Best,

Dave

[Robert Hayward]

I do not know how many bearings, you cannot see inside it. I have never had the need to put a dial indicator on mine but I can say it turns rock solid. I cannot feel any deflection. I occasionally use mine to chuck from both ends of a work piece at the same time. Makes for really accurate "reversing" when it is time to do so. Shoot them an email, or call them, really nice people. Been a while but I think the name is Nadine that fields all the inquiries.

[Eugene Dixon]

I have an adapter to fit on my (Robust) live center. I use it to mount the chuck on the tailstock and center the work on the vacuum chuck, mostly. Also, if I turn it around backwards on the live center, I can have a larger footprint to seat work on the the chuck, etc., on the head stock.

[Mike Goetzke]

I have this Hold-Fast one: https://www.hartvilletool.com/product/8278/chucks