On Making an Interchangeable Tip Live Center for the Sherline Lathe

Thank you for the kind words, guys. I really appreciate your sentiments and I am truly grateful for your comments.

For you Sherline guys, you can do this, too. You just have to be a little fussy about how you work. If I can be of assistance, please let me know.
 
That there is some beautiful work!
(and the opening photo is awesome!)
 
Great work Mike & as usual an excellent detailed write up! So when are you going to publish a book of all the outstanding articles you have done? It would be a great seller, I know I would buy one. ;)
 
Great work Mike & as usual an excellent detailed write up! So when are you going to publish a book of all the outstanding articles you have done? It would be a great seller, I know I would buy one. ;)

Thanks, Will, but I haven't done enough to even fill a booklet. What would fill a book are all the mistakes I've made because I'm probably the biggest screw up on this site! Lucky for me, I learned from every single one of them so while I'm still a screw up, I'm not nearly as stupid as I once was.

Most of the stuff I've written are based on notes taken at the scene of the crime. I was younger back then but I knew that someday I would want to know what I did, why I did it, how I did it and how I evaluated what I did. I've been pretty good at keeping those notes, especially about projects like that live center because it is actually quite a complicated one. I was able to go back and collect those notes into an article to share with some guys that needed it, and that is the real payback for doing articles like that - helping others.

So, thank you, Will and Bob and all of you for your kind thoughts and words. It makes me proud to be a member of HM and even prouder if I had a chance to help someone.
 
Thanks, guys. I hope you learn something from this article that is worthwhile.

Here is something that is not in that article and as I mentioned earlier, it was learned from a mistake. I said that the tips must be shaped by using the housing as a mandrel, right? The reason I know that is because I made a shaping mandrel and I was really careful when I made it but those tips had so much run out that you could use it to stir coffee under power! I was trying not to risk marring the housing but eventually found that it was the only way to assure concentricity. Lesson learned.

I also learned a similar lesson when making my knurling tool. When you want two separate pieces to be identical, you must machine them together at the same time using the same process. Trying to machine them any other way will not produce identical pieces, regardless of how careful you are in setting up the cuts. I know because I tried, and I tried hard.

So much in our hobby is trying and making mistakes, then learning how best to proceed. This live center was an incredible learning experience because there were mistakes but there were also valuable lessons. I'm happy to share them but I assure you that the most indelible lessons will come from your own mistakes so don't be afraid to make them.
 
So much in our hobby is trying and making mistakes, then learning how best to proceed. This live center was an incredible learning experience because there were mistakes but there were also valuable lessons. I'm happy to share them but I assure you that the most indelible lessons will come from your own mistakes so don't be afraid to make them.
Amen to that, Mike.
 
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