1/2 Lathe Center??

Bemmy nailed it . It's used on cylindrical grinders to allow clearing of the wheel . Center lube is needed . As heat builds up in the shaft it expands and heats the dead centers , thus the lube . All of the grinders I've ever run had spring loaded tailstocks which allowed for expansion and contraction of the large shafts .
 
Janderso said:
I've often wondered how you guys in your basement shops dealt with smoke??
High temp grease, check.
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Tap magic works also but it is more expensive. I mean I paid $4 for a tub of grease and between center lube and cutting lube it will last me years. I get better results with tap magic but using it for roughing seems wasteful and then it doesn't play well with the grease for final cuts. And amazingly I find cutting oil never smokes when I am tapping so it usually gets used along with WD-40 for aluminum when I am tapping. It is almost like I wasted the money on the tap magic.
 
In addition to giving me extra tool clearance on the lathe, I often use my half center in the tail stock with my rotary table on the mill, It will allow the cutter room to run off the end of the part.
 
If you have a slow old South Bend or other vintage lathe, almost anything will work. I use old refiltered ATF, hydraulic fluid, STP, just about anything. Just don't get carried away with your job and forget.
 
When working between centers, the application of a half-center becomes obvious. With a half-center you can bring the cutting tool right up to the tail side face of the work without changing the setup. I learned a lot of technique from the old books, and I am not sure why turning between centers isn't in vogue anymore. It couldn't possibly be from modern thin castings or the precision superiority of affordable Asian scroll chucks.
 
Turning between centers requires lots of manual setup, and it isn't really suitable for production work.

As far as dead center lube goes McMaster has a high pressure lead-based lubricant. It's labeled anti-seize but it works quite the treat for dead centers and is marketed as such.

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