Can You Use A Dead Center

I used it and it worked okay. I notice some heat build up in the aluminum.
I will be shopping for a live center.
Are there any suggestions for a quality one?
 
I second the choice of the Royal Live Center.

"Billy G"
 
Another vote for Royal. I have more than one. Skoda is good, one you may not find readily but is good is Roofe. One key thing that lets you know quickly is whether they are rebuild-able, or have a way to get fresh grease in there. Lots of the cheapies are assembled and sealed. No access (easy anyway) for clean and lube. But it all depends on what you expect and need out of the center. If your needs are seldom, and light....then nothing wrong with saving a few bucks on an import. But if you need the best, then get ready to shell out some bucks. Like chucks, the good ones aren't cheap.
 
ddickey said:
I used it and it worked okay. I notice some heat build up in the aluminum.
I will be shopping for a live center.
Are there any suggestions for a quality one?
Click to expand...
Royal, you will not like the price however. When you buy one get one with an extended point as it will give much more tool clearance when turning small parts. They also get quite hot but this is expected.

I have a cheap import that I use for crude work but the bearings do not last long and it is often to large for smaller parts but works well otherwise.
http://www.royalproducts.com/product.cfm?catid=8
 
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I use the Never Seize (made by Bostik if I remember right) as well. Great stuff for a lot of things. Not just for threads.
Second on the Royal brand live centers. That is what I use also. But I wouldn't turn my nose up at a Skoda or Bison either.
For lubing dead centers etc this is what you use: http://www.cmdlubeoil.com/extreme_pressure_lubricants.html

This is what we used at the Tech school in the machining program. A tube will last most HSMs a decade.
 
when i use a dead center i use Mc Master Carr's EP lube in the yellow and black tube.
i have had the same tube for >10 years
 
Yep, McMaster Carr is a distributor for CMD. Most folks only need a 4 oz tube. If you call CMD up and only need a small quantity, they will give you the stock number for it in the McMaster Carr catalogue.
 
When using a dead centre in the tailstock it is difficult to imagine any grease that will last for the duration of the job. How do we know it is time to reapply some grease and how should it be reapplied?
On one job, I tried some Rotella 15w40 diezel engine oil, giving the centre a few drops at the beginning of every pass.
It seemed to work OK because the work didn't heat up more than usual and the centre didn't gall.
I have a live centre but want to learn to use a dead centre as best we can.
 
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