#3 MT and Oneway
Barbara Gill, Remlik Virginia
>Back in Jan. when I was about ready to order my new lathe I wrote Kevin Clay of Oneway and asked why the #3MT on their big lathes. I recently asked permission to post his reply. Here it is.
"A number 2 live center has a big end of the taper of .700 inches. People want to drill holes through the tailstock and they want a 3/8 hole in it.
This leaves a wall thickness of .16 inches. We do not feel that this is strong enough if somebody wants to put 2 60 inch extensions on our machine
and turn porch posts that weigh a couple hundred pounds. Also our live center has a long body for the two bearings, this puts additional stress on
the morse taper extension. On the headstock end when people drive large heavy pieces they typically do not use a morse taper spur but use a faceplate with driver bolts in it. Drive spurs also tend to be solid and not as long as our live center.
Driving large drills is also much better done with a number 3 taper instead of a number 2."