Live Centers are sometimes used in place of the dead center in the tail stock quill. The end that fits into
the work piece is mounted on ball or roller bearings so that it is free to rotate; thus, no lubrication of the
center hole is required. In most cases, they may not be as accurate as the solid type, so they often are
not used for precision work.
Clamp the 1-inch lathe dog to the stock. It is best to leave the dog loose around the stock for now. Put
the stock between centers, and adjust the centers to where they are just snug. Now clamp the lath dog
as far back on the stock as you can. The reason for this is that you need to turn the shank end down to
.0500 inch and 2 inches long. If you cannot turn the stock to 2 inches long, turn to 1-1/2 inches in length.
The other 1/2 inch can be turned later.
If good finish and accurate size are needed, one or more roughing cuts usually-are followed by one or
more finish cuts. Roughing cuts may be as heavy as proper chip thickness, tool life, and lathe capacity
permit. Large depths of cut and smaller feeds are preferred to the reverse procedure, because fewer
cuts are required and less time is lost in reversing the carriage and resetting the tool for the following
cut.
CUTTING SPEEDS
Cast Steel 50 fpm
Bronze 70 fpm
Cast Iron 70 fpm
Malleable Iron 100 fpm
Mild Steel 100 fpm
Soft Brass 200 fpm
Aluminum 300 fpm
TURNING THE STOCK
Mark on the stock from the end (tail stock end) a mark with a file at 2 inches. Set the cutting tool for
turning and just touch the point on the stock. Move the carriage back far enough to clear the work piece
and move the compound feed in .020 of an inch. Inmost cases this will remove .040 from the stock on
each pass.
Having the lathe running at the slowest speed in direct belt drive, engage the feed lever and start
removing the stock. When the cutting tool reaches the mark you put on the stock, disengage the feed.
Now, run the carriage back to where it just clears the work, set it in another .020 and repeat the process.