Sorby Steb Center, that isn't a Drive Center?
I bought a couple of Sorby steb centers. Today I tried to use the small one I'd bought, but would stop with any pressure on the piece.
It looks like this: https://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/chuck...ing-stebcentre
Sorby is calling it a revolving steb center. Is this meant to go into the tailstock? When would I use this over a live center in the tail stock?
2 Attachment(s)
Two different Steb centers
There are both Steb drive centers and Steb live centers. I have several sizes of each from 1/2" up to 1" (I think).
This picture shows both the drive and live Steb centers in the 1/2" size, the size I use the most:
Attachment 441828
I use them a lot, especially on hard wood that might possibly be brittle when spindles are turned very thin (less than 1/4"). I like them for two reasons, the first and biggest reason: unlike many centers such as the Oneway and clones, the spring-loaded center points on both the drive and live centers won't split the wood when you crank down on it as would a non-spring-loaded point. For thin spindles I use the Steb centers on both ends. I drill a shallow center hole in the center of each end with a gimlet then crank down on the tailstock until the points contact the wood and dig in a little.
Note there are non-Sorby Steb clones - I bought a 3/4" once and the point was NOT spring loaded.
Other reasons to use them instead of other drive and live centers: For beginners, these work as safety centers to since they will slip in the event of a catch. For multi-axis pieces the points grab the wood nicely even when the axis on the end is shifted and base is no longer perpendicular to the axis, in which case I might only get 1/2 or less of the points in contact but that is enough. Using a spur drive center for off-axis work in fairly soft wood can make a real mess of the end in short order and quickly make it difficult to find and reuse previous axes.
This is a bud vase I made recently from soft maple using two Steb centers on three axes on the top end and two on the base end:
Attachment 441829
JKJ
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Erich Weidner
I bought a couple of Sorby steb centers. Today I tried to use the small one I'd bought, but would stop with any pressure on the piece.
It looks like this:
https://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/chuck...ing-stebcentre
Sorby is calling it a revolving steb center. Is this meant to go into the tailstock? When would I use this over a live center in the tail stock?