Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
spur center
Terry in Ottawa
>I've just assembled my first lathe, a mono tube bed. I tried mounting a piece of wood but the spur center doesn't dig in to the wood. The four wings around the tapered point are not sharp and do not dig in to the wood.
Is there something wrong with my spur center (the wings aren't sharp)or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
Re: spur center
Peter Teubel
>Did you first pound the spur drive into the wood with a mallet, driving the spurs into the wood? That's the usual method unless you have a tailstock that can produce a few hundred pounds of force.
Re: spur center
Terry in Ottawa
>I did try pounding the spurs in to the wood but not much success. I'm afraid to use too much force if the spurs are faulty. The edge of the spurs are 1/16 thick. They are definitely square and not bevelled.
Re: spur center
john Lucas
>Terry
they are easy to sharpen if you have a dremel and a cylinder shaped abrasive bit. Just follow the curve up and down until you have a sharp edge. John
Re: spur center
Peter Teubel
>If you are pounding the spur into end grain, you'll want to make sure the edges are sharp so they will penetrate the wood, but too much force can split the wood. When I set my spur drive into bowl blanks, I use a 5lb mallet and WAIL on it to bury the spurs into the wood (I go thru alot of mallets but I can always make more). When I'm using a 2-prong spur drive, I bury the spurs at least 1/2" into the bowl blank. I;ve never had a spur slip since doing that.
Re: spur center
Earl
>You can also tap the spur in the wood to get a mark and then use a wood chisel to make cuts in the wood--you can easily make them as deep as you want that way.
Earl
Re: spur center
Georg Waldhof
>in addition to the suggestions already received, if you have a bandsaw, you can touch the end and create a cross pattern on the bottom of the piece. I've found this works very well and is quick.
Be careful not to cut too deep - 1/32" - 1/16" is sufficient. This method also presumes you A)have a bandsaw B) the blade is square to the table and C)you can waste the last little bit on the stock.
Oh, and this works best if the stock is not round, or you have a means of setting the end of round stock square as you touch the bandsaw blade.
Hammer pounding is still the best thing.
Re: spur center
JL work
>I second the bandsaw. Some other alternatives are to get a good automatic center punch to mark your hole before measuring (and then pounding it in). I had heard good things about the Sorby Steb centers - I got a chance to use one and it worked great.
Sharpen the spur center
Richard Allen
>Hi Terry
It is simple enough to sharpen the spurs on the bench grinder, you have for sharpening your turning tools. The spur centers, I have sharpened, have all been mild steel and sharpened very quickly.
I don't expect, even sharp spurs, to dig into hard wood (I do expect the spurs to dig into softer hardwoods like poplar). Bandsaw, handsaw, anything to make a couple of right angle notches for the spurs to sit in is good and drill a small hole to start the point of the spur center.
For a bowl blank I generaly use the face of my chuck to drive the work. I am not sure I would trust your tube lathe to provide a secure enough tailstock for that method.
Good luck
Richard
Re: Sharpen the spur center
Tom S
>Check to see if your spur center point is adjustable. The center point may be protrouding too far. This sometimes limits how far the spur center will sink into hard woods. Some have a set screw in the side.
