So is it bad if the live center wobbles???

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I would guess it is but I thought I would ask here. So here is what is going on. I have the somewhat decent harbor freight lathe. It has a 12" swing and recently I put that to the test and roughed out a rather larger 12"x4" black walnut bowl as a popcorn bowl for a wedding present. (It is still drying right now.)

As is often the case it was pretty out of round when I started so I brought up the tail stock. Worked pretty well. But then recently as I have started trying to learn to do some spindle work I have had trouble getting things to smooth out and settle down. I had thought it was the wood. So I tried and tried to no avail. Then I brought the center points up together thinking perhaps my head had shifted off the center line of the lathe. That was not it. So I was then afraid I had bent the drive shaft of the lathe. So I turned it on and the drive center spins true as does my chuck when it is threaded on. At this point I was pretty frustrated and about to scream. Without expecting it to do anything I spun the head of the live center by itself and saw that it wobbles.

The point swings somewhere between a 16th and an 8th of an inch I would guess. If I push back on it and rotate it then it seems to rotate true but it worries me that it can do kind of out of round thing at all. Because if it can, then even under a load it seems it would.

Now this is just the stock tail center that came with the lathe. So I have no reason to expect it was particularly high quality.

So what do you guys think? Is this the cause of my spindles not really smoothing down?

Assuming the answer is yes what do I replace it with? I have bought a great many things from PSI and so I went there and looked and they have a few replacement centers for about $20 a piece. A 60degree cone center and a more normal looking cup center.

Then a check of a woodworking/turning site run by Tom Hintz had a review of the OneWay Live Center and it seemed pretty amazing but was $109 + shipping I would guess. A few more searches showed it being $119 in most places at the moment.

Then last night on the way home I stopped by the local WoodCraft and they had a "value live center" for $15 that seemed comparable to the PSI ones and a few pretty big and heavy no-name ones for $40 and then a Nova Live Center System for $67.

I looked online for reviews on the Nova Live Center and found a review but not real comparisons.

So if I need to replace it, as I think I probably do, then what do I replace it with? At $120 the one way tail center is about 70% the price of the lathe itself and that might be a tad over-kill. But I don't want to spend only $15 and just buy more "cheap part" problems.

So anyone had any experience with that value live center? Or good enough experience with something else to truly recommend it?

Thanks a Million!

Joshua

[Ron Drew]

I have the Oneway that came with 2 sizes of cones, and I like it a lot. I use it every day with no problems. I suspect the Nova is fine, but don't have first hand experience. You probably will get what you pay for, and I personally wouldn't buy a $15 or $20 live center. I know these tools are expensive, but it's so much more fun to use when everything works right.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Joshua I tried several live centers and the old saying you get what you pay for is true. I had almost as much in cheap livecenters that I could have bought a oneway to begin with. Don't look at the livecenter as costing 70% of the lathe because it is a tool in of itself. I finally broke down and bought one. I liked it so much I bought one for the midi Rikon also. The cones come in handy for a lot of things such as peppermills.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I had almost as much in cheap livecenters that I could have bought a oneway to begin with. Don't look at the livecenter as costing 70% of the lathe because it is a tool in of itself.
That was one of the thoughts that kept circling in my head. That I could very likely wind up spending just as much in one cheap one after another as a single good one. I have been careful to this point with money because I keep wondering if it will really be something that I would love to do long long term. I no longer really question that as I love turning things on my lathe. But I have been toying with the idea for the last few weeks of getting a powermatic lathe. That would come with a good live center so that factors into the equation as well.

Speaking of which I found a reference online that pointed me to osolonik's website and a sale on the powermatic live center. $59 with free shipping. Looks like a great center but appears not to have replacement tips.


I finally broke down and bought one. I liked it so much I bought one for the midi Rikon also.
Wow. So you bought two of them? That is quite a testimonial Bernie. You would happen to have ever had or used the Nova have you?


The cones come in handy for a lot of things such as peppermills.
Hummm. Now see that is the one of the interesting things for me. The Oneway has 2 cone tips of different sizes and then the cup center. The Nova has more centers but a stepped cone tip rather than the 60deg cone. As I have never had anything but the stock one that came with my lathe I am just not sure which would be more useful to me.

The cone seems more easily used as it fits the whole length regardless and the step code more supporting if you pre-drill to the proper diameters.

Kind of an interesting question to me.

So if anyone who has used one or the other would like to sound off on how useful they have found those different parts I would love to know.

Thanks,
Joshua

[David Walser]

Joshua,

How long have you had the HF lathe? Our local HF store is very good about accepting returns. I'd take the live center back and get them to swap it out for one without a wobble. I have the same HF lathe you do and I prefer it's stock live center to the stock live center that came with my Woodfast lathe.

Having said that, I purchased the Oneway live center and highly recommend it. The Oneway live center is great and I only use the HF live center when both lathes are being used. The Woodfast live center just collects dust.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Get the Oneway live center it is in a class all by itself for wood turning live centers, there's more to it than meets the eye, and I don't want to go in into all the good things about it, just to suffice it will last you a lifetime :)

[Joshua Dinerstein]

How long have you had the HF lathe?
I bought it right around the 4th of July last year. So 13 months now? But you know that raises an interesting thought. I bought the extended warranty on it. At the time it was only like $16. I should call them and see if my warranty covers the live center.


Having said that, I purchased the Oneway live center and highly recommend it. The Oneway live center is great and I only use the HF live center when both lathes are being used. The Woodfast live center just collects dust.
Wow. Does anyone own the Nova? So far everyone is a oneway live center user. :) Perhaps that should tell me something. :rolleyes:

Thanks,
Joshua

[Dale Miner]

I have two of these centers

http://www.osolnikmachinery.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=102

They do have replaceable points, and to me, appear to be the equal of the Oneway center, but with only one cone.

With the cone removed (it screws on like the new Powermatic and Oneways), the center is a standard cup with a removeable point.

Later,
Dale M

[Gordon Seto]

I have both the Nova and Oneway live centers. They are both very good.
The cone from Oneway is larger. The Oneway cones are made out of aluminum; they can be scratched easily, but you can true them up with regular turning tool.
If you want to make your own non-marring cone, you will have to use a 3/4" X 10 tpi tap for the OW. Nova comes with a stud screw and bolt which allow you to attach a piece of wood.

OW also has a revolving center adapter for centering the chuck for vacuum chucking down the road.
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Lathe_Accessories___Revolving_Centers___Oneway_Rev olving_Center_Adapter___1way_revolv_adapter?Args=

Other than that, I can't honestly say one is better than the other.

The service rep of Nova, Tim Geist sells the old stock Nova live center for $68. From the picture, it seems that the cone is included. At some places, the cone may be optional accessory.
http://www.timstoolcrib.com/products.php

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o83/gbseto/f3b93b61.jpg

The picture of the Nova live center doesn't show all the the accessories that came with the center.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o83/gbseto/my_my_album/livecenter002.jpg

[Bernie Weishapl]

I had forgotten about that Gordon. I do have the adaptor and do use it to put the bowl and chuck on the tailstock then bring it up and center the bowl either on the vacuum chuck or donut chuck.

Joshua I have a Nova DVR XP lathe but I was not as impressed with the Nova livecenter as I was with the oneway. To me the oneway is more versitile than the Nova but that is just my opinion. Not a thing wrong with the Nova like I said the oneway can just be used in many ways.

[Bob Hallowell]

I started turning with the grizzly version of that lathe and my center went the same as yours. I bought one of the cheap 60 deg centers from psi and used the heck out of it and it is still great. Since the I bought the jet live center set that is simialar to the one way on amazon for $70 and it is very nice.

http://www.amazon.com/Jet-709933-Live-Center-MT/dp/B0006IHIFQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1219888854&sr=8-2

Bob

[Gordon Seto]

I also have the Nova DVR, mine is the 3000, not the XP. The OEM live center came with my DVR is not the same grade as the one I am using. I don't use that one either.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I have two of these centers

http://www.osolnikmachinery.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=102

They do have replaceable points, and to me, appear to be the equal of the Oneway center, but with only one cone.

With the cone removed (it screws on like the new Powermatic and Oneways), the center is a standard cup with a removeable point.

Those where the very ones I had seen. I noticed that. That they came without the reversable cone. But beyond that I have never seen any information on that live center at all. Just the picture and a price is all I seem to come up with. You mentioned that it was a threaded system, or more accurately that it unscrews. Do you know what the screw thread pattern is? is it a 3/4 10tpi like the one way or something else?

Anything about it that you don't like? Have you had to replace points or anything like that?

Thanks!
Joshua

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Whoa! Now that is interesting. I went and looked again at the powermatic from osolnik and the jet from Amazon. Check out the similarities in the photos. Just remove the bull nose cone from the 1 and I swear it is exactly the same photo!

Joshua

[Dale Miner]

yes,

3/4 - 10

I haven't had to replace the point.

Later,
Dale M

[Gordon Seto]

Have you had to replace points or anything like that?



Some pen turners turn pens without the mandrel. The aluminum cone doesn't do well. Now OW sells a steel point as accessory:
http://www.oneway.ca/spindle/live_center.htm#pen_point

The Nova comes with a small steel cone.

[Bob Hallowell]

The Jet and the powermatic are owned by the same company. Thus they are probaly them same. The oneway looks close too. I mostly use mine without the bullnose or the 60 deg tip they showed installed when you take that off there is a nice point and cup underneath.

Bob


Whoa! Now that is interesting. I went and looked again at the powermatic from osolnik and the jet from Amazon. Check out the similarities in the photos. Just remove the bull nose cone from the 1 and I swear it is exactly the same photo!

Joshua