Dead Centres?

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

I’ve been searching for No.2 MT dead and half centres with either a tang or drawbar thread.  And yes, without success.  Do such items exist?

I ask, because I’ve just fitted a DRO to my lathe tailstock utilising a 10mm wide clamp around the quill.  I’m still able to eject any tooling which has a tang, but without a tang, the clamp prevents the quill retracting far enough to allow the pin to eject the tooling.  I could try a thinner clamp, but I already have some 10mm thick material.  Even so, things would still be quite close.

A drawbar thread would allow me to add a stud, or even make a threaded tang.  I’ve seen a few proprietary threaded tangs, but they seem quite costly for what they are and look easy enough to make.

I’ve considered extending the ejector pin, but would rather not lose any of the already scant quill travel (around 60mm).

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

JBWeld a 10mm thick disc of metal to the end of your CTR.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

You can get “blank” MT tapers which are unmachined and have a drawbar thread.  Easy enough to turn a 60 degree point on it and add a bit of studding at the ejection end.  That way you know that the centre is concentric.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Measure the distance shortfall eg with bit of bluetak on end of arbor. Pop one of more ball bearings to make up the length into the taper before inserting the arbor. The reason for using BBs is they roll back out when done.

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

I have bought some with a parallel section near the point. You can grip it in the lathe and drill and tap M6 or 1/4″ and put a bit of screwed rod in it. The shanks are easy to drill and tap, they are not hardened. Found some like this on Ebay just looking for M2 dead centre. They are easy to spot from the pictures.

Martin C

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

As Martin says but turn the parallel section yourself, or use aNo1 MT centre in a 2 to1 adaptor with a tang!!!!

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

As Martin says but turn the parallel section yourself, or use aNo1 MT centre in a 2 to1 adaptor with a tang!!!!

Kinda prefer MT1 dead centres on my mini lathe anyway,shorter, less in the way of tool(post), not sure you really need anything more robust most of the time on small machine?

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