Female cup lathe live centres

leeko · Oct 17, 2020

Hi all

Can anyone explain what you would use a female cup live center for on a lathe? One came in a lot of tooling I picked up this week, but the owner didn't know what it was for.

I could see it being used with a ballbearing when offsetting the tailstock for taper cutting, but I think there are also dedicated ball centers for that purpose.

Workpieces with conical ends, maybe, but wouldn't that would only work if the workpiece taper was the same or more obtuse than the center?

Thanks in advance,

Lee

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Milland · Oct 17, 2020

Round workpiece where you cannot have a drilled hole in the end. But you better have a precision end chamfer or dead square edge.

Obvy for when you don't need to cut to the end of the part...

thermite · Oct 17, 2020

leeko said:
Hi all

Can anyone explain what you would use a female cup live center for on a lathe? One came in a lot of tooling I picked up this week, but the owner didn't know what it was for.

Just to name a few, they can be handy for shop-fab of centers to "minority" tapers or to sub-sections "half sizes" or odd gage-lines of standard tapers, any of which may be dificult, costly, or involving of long delivery time to "just order".

Also useful for re-grinding tapers of any stock OR custom dead center goods.

Not everything must be done at high speed, friction, heat, and stress, after all. Some days, one just needs a way to "get by".

L Vanice · Oct 17, 2020

I learned to turn wood before I did my first job in metal. Wood lathes use cup tailstock centers because, unlike a 60 degree pointed center, they will not cause the wood to split. But wood-turning cup centers also have a thin center point that is driven into the center marks on the end of the wood. It would be hard to locate the sharp-edged cup on-center without that point in the middle.

I have a couple of live centers with sets of tapered shank inserts. They have several sizes of both male and female inserts. The female tapers do not have a sharp edge, so they would only be suited to holding a bar or tube by the outside diameter at the end. Jacobs made an armature turning device that looks like a chuck but has three bronze jaws. It goes in the tailstock and supports an armature shaft that has no center hole and acts like a steady rest. I only mention that Jacobs device to illustrate that it is sometimes required to support parts with no center hole from the tailstock.

https://www.amazon.com/Center-Morse...center+set&qid=1602963313&s=industrial&sr=1-6.

Larry

leeko · Oct 18, 2020

Thanks everyone for the responses. I learned something today!

Lee

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thermite · Oct 18, 2020

leeko said:
Thanks everyone for the responses. I learned something today!

Lee

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Tiny extra tid-bit, then:

Tubing.. that dasn't mind a tiny bit of flare: Conventional center

Tubing.. that does't mind a bit of closure: Cup center

Tubing.. that can stand NEITHER? Machine a stepped mini-mandrel with a shoulder, center divot in the mandrel.

g-coder05 · Oct 18, 2020

Thanks everyone for the responses. I learned something today!

Actually taught me something when you mentioned putting a ball in the cup to turn tapers. I've had a Skoda kit with interchangeable tips and cups for 20 years and never thought about that.

thermite · Oct 18, 2020

g-coder05 said:
Actually taught me something when you mentioned putting a ball in the cup to turn tapers. I've had a Skoda kit with interchangeable tips and cups for 20 years and never thought about that.

Soem several somebodies also sell a slide-bar, MT tail, so the TS need not be set-over.

I have Hardinge turret slides instead that can suport the same deal.

The Enco Hex has no provision for set-over. Neither does the Cazeneuve capstan TS besides its own minor-range adjustable for wear center (Henri Rene Bruet patent, which Go OGle).

donie · Oct 18, 2020

"The Enco Hex has no provision for set-over. Neither does the Cazeneuve capstan TS besides its own minor-range adjustable for wear center (Henri Rene Bruet patent, which Go OGle)."

Ha Ha ! now there is a production tool! Or, goood nuuff fer a troll....

sfriedberg · Oct 18, 2020

Jesus, donie, will you give it a rest. Thermite is bad enough, are you planning to join him?

MrStretch · Oct 19, 2020

I apolgize for adding something relevant, but female centers were used extensively in traditional clockmaking when all you had were center turns lathes. File a point close to (doesn't have to super close) the center of the rod at both ends and mount it between 2 female centers. You need to be good with a graver.

jimk1960 · Oct 19, 2020

I am looking for just that. If you do not wish to keep it let me know.

leeko · Oct 20, 2020

Hi Jim

Thanks, but I'm planning to keep it. Too many good suggestions listed above!

Lee

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