More grip when pinching parts between revolving centre and faceplate.

[David Powell]

I am presently overhauling and repainting my daughter.s model steam roller. I have been painting parts and a couple of days ago quite accidentally sprayed my makeshift faceplate with an overspray of primer, and just left it as I seldom use it. Anyhow further on in the job I wanted to turn down the diameter of am 8" offcut of 60 61 aluminium. As I usually do I just drilled a centre hole in the piece. put the faceplate on the lathe( 9" Southbend in good order), the revolving centre in the tailstock, pushed the offcut tightly against the faceplate. When I began turning the od I fully expected the usual pantomime where the plate would slip at times. I was very surprised that slippage did not happen even with a 50 thous cut and hand feeding pretty heavily. So , if a bit of paint is not a problem, then it might sometimes help gain grip. Just another wrinkle not in the textbooks. Regards David Powell.

[lynnl]

Might be a good use for non-skid paint.

[754]

Put a peel and stick sandpaper on it.

[genea]

Put a peel and stick sandpaper on it.

That should work well.

To keep it from rotating I used contact cement to glue some fine grit sandpaper to the back of a drywall square I was using as a straight edge. It not only eliminated the rotation problem but it needed a lot less force to do so.

I left the sandpaper on the square for many years but if you do need to get it off contact cement can be difficult to remove. OTOH peel and stick sandpaper should come loose with a little heat.

[Tungsten dipper]

Please post some pictures of the steam roller when you get it done.

[Ian B]

Isn't that what double sided sticky tape was designed for?

Ian

[David Powell]

Using sand or emerycloth between the faceplate and the work goes quite well until the first slip, then the paper sometimes tears and some leaves, or/ and it gouges the face of the workpiece, that is no matter if it is a rough or unfinished piece , but annoying if it is a finished good quality one.
I am not very competent with computers but will get some photos posted once the job is finished. The roller was initially built as a working toy in the 1970s, had a new boiler in 2000 and only now is getting the improvements it deserves.
regards David Powell.

[metalmagpie]

Kraft paper.

[CCWKen]

Isn't that what double sided sticky tape was designed for?

Ian

I've used that in the past for thin aluminum. I have double sided cellophane tape. I wonder if it's still good? I'll have to find it again. I need to strip the coating off a piece of an old street sign. That is some tough aluminum. The sticky reflective stuff is just as tough.

[Bob La Londe]

Even a sheet of fairly modern printer or copier paper between two flat surfaces can reduce slip significantly. Its cheap and pretty consistent thickness.

[Bob La Londe]

[gellfex]

Putting a washer flanged "clampdown" nut or other pressure spreading block between the work and the live center helps a lot too, and works well when you can't drill a center hole.

[David Powell]

What ever you do DO NOT think you can make a firm drive by drilling one hole in the workpiece and putting a bolt through one hole in your faceplate. If there is a jam up then the workpiece becomes a sort of cam and hauls the centre hole off centre with a lot of force. A Skoda number 3 Morse taper revolving centre in a 10 hp lathe made a hell of a crack when I broke it !!!
Regards David Powell.

[BCRider]

The fact that the paint increased the friction would seem to be the point here. It becomes an option along with all the other suggestions. Although I tend to prefer the easy to do slip of kraft paper idea just because I don't need to peel anything away later on.

[Galaxie]

Even a sheet of fairly modern printer or copier paper between two flat surfaces can reduce slip significantly. Its cheap and pretty consistent thickness.

I usually avoid writing paper as it seems to get slipperier the harder it's clamped. Is that due to the chalk and/or clay content? Kraft paper seems to work well even if it gets oily.