Disappointed Craft Supply Spur

Dan Mosley

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1,169
Location
Palm Springs, Ca
Pictures below - bought some new tools one of which was a new spur center. According to the add it is very strong and meant to use on natural edge turnings etc - It resembles one for spindle stuff but the ad said it was super strong etc..
Day off today and mounted up a mesquite blank - two wacks with a wood mallet and put it in with my new steb spur center in the tail stock and started turning - holding power is great and finished the bowl in the normal manner. Then took it all apart to reverse into my supernova and noticed the edges on the spur were bent..........I was not happy at all and plan on calling them on Monday to complain about it. I was told this would incrediably strong by the person taking the order and is far better than a two prong......I like CS but this just irritates me to no end.......ahhhhhh well ill let you know what happens

Dan
 

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YIPES! I thought the people at CS were more up front than some other folks. That said, even the best manufacturers have failures, it's how they AND their distributors take care of the problem.

Just a thought; everything I read says that two wing centers are better that four. They don't seem to spin in the wood as much. Been thinking of trying one, but haven't got around to it.

Bruce
 
That is a different style that the 'softies' I have encountered.
It's a shame the steel quality is so poor.
I don't know which brand is trustworthy as far as the common spur is concerned.
I use the PSI knock-off of the Steb center but it doesn't hold very well. Spin City. I can't recommend it.
 
Disapointed Craft supply spur

Real bummer,1st off I don't believe you will have any trouble with getting a refund or replacement from CS.I have never seen one do that.I have a bunch of them from HF and even they hold up great.
 
Thats to bad Dan. I don't believe you will have any problems getting your money back or a replacement. They have treated me well and have taken care of any problem I have had in short order and completely to my satisfaction. I have found today there are more problems with factory quaility control and wouldn't blame CS.
 
I have a few drive centers, but I think this is the last one I will have to buy. Had it for a year or so and no problems so far. This one is from StubbyLathes USA, but I think others make something similar, including the ones that fit into various brands of chucks. The things I like are the size, the fact is uses threads rather than a morse taper (don't need to find something to drive out a morse taper), and that you can remove the spurs and point to sharpen, change how long they are, or make a two pronger. It will still spin in some soft woods, but does a whole lot better than any of my other drive centers. Also, if the spurs are TOO sharp (therefore thin), they will bend in really hard wood. I took a year to decide to buy it because it cost more than I wanted to pay, but I'm glad I did as I use it on almost every piece. no affiliation, just a happy stubby lathe owner.

http://stubbylatheusa.com/Convertible_Drive_Center.100.pdf
 

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I have a couple of 4 prong spurs that I picked up somewhere, don't remember when or where, but on both of them the spurs bent when I used them... I took the drive to the ol' belt sander, ground off the bent over prongs... it shortened the spurs slightly, but since I got into a little thicker metal on the ground down spurs, haven't had any problem since.
It is a pain the postier portion of the anatomy though.
 
Disapointed Craft supply Spur

I have a couple of 4 prong spurs that I picked up somewhere, don't remember when or where, but on both of them the spurs bent when I used them... I took the drive to the ol' belt sander, ground off the bent over prongs... it shortened the spurs slightly, but since I got into a little thicker metal on the ground down spurs, haven't had any problem since.
It is a pain the postier portion of the anatomy though.


You just reminded me Chuck,but I took all of my spur drives and cut two of the cutters off and changed them to two drive centers,they seen to hold much better that way.
 
Bummer about the center. I'm sure CS will take care of things, though.

I've gotten in the habit of tapping the 4-prong center a time or two with a mallet to mark the spur locations, then using an old beater chisel to deepen the slots that they go into. This seems to greatly reduce the amount of spin-out and slippage I see.
 
I agree with the comments and i am not faulting CS really but i am going to see what they will do tomm because it is not supposed to do what it did according to their advertisment. Ill let ya know how it turns out.....Dan
 
Vaughn, good idea about using a chisel to deepen the grip. Something I'll probably do on my next problem hunk o' wood. I've chiseled off bark, but never thought to make the spur marks deeper.
 
Yep ill have to remember that idea Vaughn - By the way spoke with CS today and what the technicnal Rep there told me is that they are aware of the problem and are trying to rectify the problem with the manufacturer.
So i agreed to return the drive and they will pay the shipping on the return and credit my cc back for the amount - then ship me a two prong right away which is cheaper and according to the tech guy is strong and cheaper.

The product number is 014-5200 "Jumbo Drive"


They are still selling it so for anyone looking Do Not buy this one as it is defective at this time.............Dan
 
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