Drive Centres
Headstock Centres for Every Need

The drive centres shown on this page cover almost every need one can imagine.  We feature the ranges from Planet Manufacturing, Axminster and the popular Stebcentres .
If you are not sure of the size of the Morse Taper in your lathe take a look at this simple method of measuring.

Stebcentres: - A revolution in spindle workholding.  These ground-breaking wood lathe drive centres are an essential addition to every turner's toolkit. Made by Robert Sorby under licence, their design incorporates not just a spring loaded centre locating point in stainless steel but also a set of razor sharp drive teeth which bite into the workpiece.

For the novice turner this offers added security. By winding in the tail stock progressively the degree of bite can be varied and the centre point firmly located. If the bite is kept relatively light, then in the unfortunate case of a dig-in arising the workpiece simply stops revolving rather than kicking back the turning chisel. This allows the beginner to use his skew chisel, in particular, with an extra degree of confidence.  The degree of bite which the Stebcentre generates allows for much more demanding work to be undertaken than would normally be expected when using a conventional drive, simply by increasing the tailstock pressure.  There is the added benefit for the production turner of allowing the workpiece to be removed without the need to stop and re-start the lathe. Simply wind back the tail stock and the piece can be withdrawn safely.

Steb Drive: The Steb Drive which fits neatly in most four-jaw scroll chucks. It was originally designed to fit the Supernova chuck but by default fits most others available today. The Steb Drive eliminates the need to remove the chuck each time the turner wishes to use his Stebcentre.

Revolving Stebcentre: This revolutionary idea involves taking the body of a live centre and putting the head of a stebcentre onto it. This allows for basic off centre work to be acheived, such as cabriolet candlesticks as well as multi-sided boxes and even small multi-sided bowls when used in conjunction with an original Steb Centre or the new Steb Drive. Available with a choice of head diameters in 1 or 2 Morse Taper.

If you are not sure of the size of the Morse Taper in your lathe take a look at this simple method of measuring.

Planet Manufacturing Drive Centres:  A comprehensive range of centres from this well-respected British manufacturer, competitively priced, with no sacrifice in quality.  My personal choice.

Piloted Drive Centres: A very versatile centre indeed! Not only do these centres have (we believe) a better shape on each of the prongs than some other manufacturers' products, but the centre is also extendable and removable simply at the turn of an Allen key. This means that in timber which may be prone to splitting, the tip can be adjusted accordingly and equally, very soft timbers can easily be accommodated and securely held by optimising the length of the protruding tip.  The drive I use!

Drive Centres:  The most basic of the woodturner's needs, drive centres come in both two- and four-prong varieties.  Those offered here are sturdy, robust items designed to give good penetration in the workpiece for consistent driving and able to hold a good edge during extended use.  The drives are offered in a range of diameters so that working close to the drive end need not be a problem, even when working on small diameter pieces.

Jumbo Drive:  No, these are not for when you're turning elephants - but they'd run a close second.  These centres are particularly designed for those instances when you are turning large, rough, out-of-balance pieces during initial roughing.  The head is a very sturdy 1.1/2" in diameter reducing very considerably the chance of drive slippage.

Ian Wilkie Light Pull Drive:  A neat friction drive suitable for turning small, through-bored objects such as light pulls.  The drive has steps of 3mm (~1/8"); 6mm (~1/4"); 10mm (~3/8") and 16mm (~5/8").  Simply bore the blank 3mm with a 10 mm counterbore, slip it onto the drive, bring up the tailstock and away you go using light cuts at around 2000 rev/min to get best results.

Cone/Friction/Slipping Drive Centres:  OK, so it's hard to know what to call them, but it's basically a solid hollow cup centre: i.e. a hollow cone in the end of a tapered external cone.  The ring mark made matches the hollow ring live centre making it easy to locate the centres when turning the timber end for end.  For beginners, it is a boon to be able to use a drive that will, in the event of a catch, simply slip rather than destroying the workpiece.