Oneway Live Center assistance

[Peter Blair]

Peter I apologize if I made you feel as if you were talking to yourself. I am paying close attention BUT am not too familiar with my small metal lathe and will print your note, take it to the lathe and try my best to use what you suggest. Thanks for the information about the inability of my equipment to be able to create the angle and your suggestion as to how I might do it by using the pin I already have. Again I would like to reinforce the appreciation I have to all who have answered me an so freely given of their time and knowledge.

[Peter Christensen]

The talking to myself remark is because we have the same name.

Yup put the Oneway live centre into your headstock and align to the socket. Pull it out and then turn the part. Have fun.

[Ken Burner]

Lots of YouTube videos on turning or matching a Morse taper. Here’s one that uses the male pin to set the compound — no measuring or indicating at all: https://youtu.be/1BtAgV-ktNY.

Ken

[John K Jordan]

The talking to myself remark is because we have the same name.

Ha!

It gets more interesting if you have the same first AND last name as a well-known woodturner, especially if you both live in the same state and are the same age. I always use my middle initial and people still us mixed up confused. One guy made and sent me tools, some famous turners sent me facebook friend requests, so far no one has sent me any of his money. It does makes for some fun intros at demos.

Two-Jordans_IMG_20170920_121712_011.jpg

I tell him I'm the better-looking one.

JKJ

[Peter Blair]

Pretty funny John. I too was confused the first while . . .

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I'm sure it is standard But there are lots of standard Mts, aren't their or do they all have the same angle only larger or smaller?
I could try to call Oneway but have emailed them without response.

The MT or Morse Taper has several sizes and these sizes do not all have the same angle, that is why I said “standard taper for it’s size”, and yes there are other tapers, like Jacobs Taper and Jarno, Brown and Sharpe, and others, but they are not MT (Morse Tapers).

So you can find the tapers for the MT0 to MT7 if you want those, here is a table for them.

MT angles.jpg

[Brice Rogers]

I've turned a handful of Morse tapers. If one pays attention, they aren't all that hard to do. While Peter C's comments are good ones, I suspect that the OP may not have a dial indicator or be that familiar with his metal lathe. But having a D.I. really helps and makes the job a lot easier.

If I only had a caliper (and of course, a metal lathe, cutter, etc.), I would find a metal rod (a bit larger than the big end of the taper) and mark the length of the taper on the metal rod. I've either use a sharpie or a scribe. Then I would set the compound to as close as I could get to angle. Then I'd make a test cut and measure the two ends. I wouldn't worry about the actual diameter yet but would be interested in the difference from the big end to the little end. Then I'd make a super minor adjustment of the compound. I do that by slightly loosening the compound and then tapping the compound with something (screw driver handle, etc.). Then make another cut, recheck, re-tap, etc. Wash rinse repeat...

Ultimately to check the fit of the MT into the live center, you would mark up the MT with a magic marker, stick it in and twist it. (But leave it in the metal lathe chuck). Then pull the live center off and check to see where the coloring is removed. If it is at one end only, then you would want to remove a little more material. Perhaps when you get it close enough, you may want to switch to a file.

Lastly, I suspect that this application is pretty forgiving and doesn't have to be super accurate. In fact, you could probably chuck up a piece of aluminum on your wood lathe, make the MT live center pin using regular wood turning tools and just turn it by eye until it is close and then use the magic marker technique.

Or....just buy a new tip for the live center.

[John K Jordan]

Ultimately to check the fit of the MT into the live center, you would mark up the MT with a magic marker, stick it in and twist it. (But leave it in the metal lathe chuck). Then pull the live center off and check to see where the coloring is removed. If it is at one end only, then you would want to remove a little more material. Perhaps when you get it close enough, you may want to switch to a file.

When I turn Morse tapers on the wood lathe I like to first approximate the taper then relieve the center (so it can't possibly be high in the middle) leaving two rings to seat. These two bands make it easier to fine tune to fit. For short tapers I made a gauge but also use a couple of calipers preset for high and low diameters a set distance apart. For short tapers in wood the distance is 1/2" since that's the width of my parting tool.

morse_taper.jpg

I've turned longer tapers from aluminum on the wood lathe the same way, easy with standard woodturning tools. I always make #2MT but I can't imagine smaller tapers being harder. I think I'll try one from lignum vitae to fit the Oneway live center.

JKJ

[Peter Blair]

Please let me know how you make out John. I have made several. They work but I made them by eye and trial and error. I guess if I were to use blueing and insert I could fine tune a lot easier.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I bought an old Delta Rockwell floor model lathe that came with an unmarked live center. The pieces that fit into it are a MT1 taper. I can remove the center piece and just use it for a cup center, or turn a small MT1 taper on the end of the stock to seat in the center hole.

[John K Jordan]

Please let me know how you make out John. I have made several. They work but I made them by eye and trial and error. I guess if I were to use blueing and insert I could fine tune a lot easier.

Peter,

I made a couple today from Lignum Vitae. I decided to post what I did in a new thread in case someone not following this thread wanted to read it.
Here's the link: Supporting things with a live center

It took longer to shoot the and process the photos than it did to make the tapers!

I don't think you need bluing with wood - I just press the socket onto the mostly-shaped taper while it is spinning. The burnished marks show the high spots exactly as the Dykem would on metal.

Another thing that helps is after sizing two marks on the blank, I peel down to the marks with a straight-edge skew chisel. This only takes a few seconds and results in a cone with perfectly straight sides, usually a good starting point for fine tuning.

I also included a few other ways I use a live center to hold things. Let me know what you think!

I might try one from aluminum by hand on the wood lathe but it probably won't be this month. I'd certainly use bluing on it. I'd probably get more use out of one with a #2MT to fit the Nova live center but the methods would be the same.

JKJ

[Jack Tyree]

I don't remember where I got it but there are pen mandrel 60 degree points available that work fine in Oneway live centers that will get you a little further away. They are very inexpensive. If you need to get further than that, Oneway sells a reverse adapter for their live centers so you can thread your chuck on the live centers. Get one of those and use it to mount a collet chuck and you can make points out of any rod material & length you want.

[John K Jordan]

I don't remember where I got it but there are pen mandrel 60 degree points available that work fine in Oneway live centers that will get you a little further away. ...

Is this the one?


Some sources:
https://www.amazon.com/Oneway-3673-T.../dp/B007SOQHM6
https://oneway.ca/Pen%20Turning%20Point
https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p...-Turning-Point
https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/...ve-center.aspx
https://www.hartvilletool.com/product/1202/centers
http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merc...nt-revtail-olc