Inverse live center for metal lathe work

[Guy Marsden]

My video shows an inverted cone (funnel shaped) live center adapter I made for my mini lathe. This allows me to center a rod that doesn't have a hole in the end. I also show a way to convert a live center to an inverted one - but haven't made that yet.

[the harmonious blacksmith]

I always called them "cup centers". When turning commutators on generators and starters they rarely have centers drilled into the armature shafts so I have simple cup centers to replace the live centers. At our older manufacturing plant where I worked many years ago we had quite a few motor/generator welders from WWII that were wonderful welders - 200 to 400 amp P&H and Wilson, which I thought were the superior machines. They were HEAVY when used as portable units.
I still remember turning many armatures with six inches or more commutator diameters, then using a mica undercutting saw (which I still have). Those larger diameter motor/generator armatures had, of course, centers in the shafts. They would have been much too heavy for the cup centers.