Reconditioning Drive Centers
by Phil Colson
Woodturner
Every now and then I take a good look at my
Drive Centers. Drive Centers have this funny way of getting
damaged without me knowing it. For example, somehow one of the wings of this four prong drive had lost part of
the wing:
In order to fix it, I grind the drive in the follow manner:
First I use the
Wolverine Grinding Jig
and
Wolverine Platform
to grind all of the prongs to the same height.
Having all the prongs at the same height insures even holding when they drive into the wood.
Next I need to sharpen the prongs, so I use a
Carbide Burr. John Jordan uses these Burrs on his wood
turning and then uses them on his motorcycle. If it's good enough for John then it is certainly good enough
for me. The Burrs work great on carving
bowls and hollow forms. I put the Burr in a Makita Electric Die Grinder, but of course you might have
an Air Die Grinder that would do just fine.
I lock the Drive Center in my Lathe Vise and grind away.
After a few minutes I have a reconditioned Drive Center ready to do its job.
This is the way I do it. It works for me
Phil can be reached directly via email at
woodturnerphil@gmail.com.
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