All three of these Axminster drives are CNC turned from stainless steel. The Pro Drive is fixed while the Pro Live and Multi-Head are live (with both featuring sealed dust proof bearings for long life).

Unlike 4-prong drive centres and single pin live centres, the Pro Drive and Pro Live centres have a series of teeth on the outer ring for superior grip. Because the ring supports the work piece over a wide area there’s very little chance the the centre will split your work piece as pressure is applied. They also have a spring-loaded centre pin – tension on the pin can be adjusted by means of a grub screw accessible though the end of the shaft. This makes it very easy to centre on the work piece and you don’t need to hammer in the Pro Drive centre with a mallet or predrill a hole in the work piece for the centre pin. What I particularly like is that you can remove the work piece from the lathe (even without stopping rotation) by simply release tailstock pressure. And you can switch the work piece end-for-end between the centres without affecting the concentricity.

The Multi-Head has two sealed dust-proof bearings and a tapered end for mounting the three interchangeable tips.  Most of the time I use the 60 ° full-point cone which  makes it easy to centre pre-drilled holes in your stock, for example when making tool handles.  The 9.5mm by 16mm long point is useful for turning small diameter stock or when you need a lot of tool clearance near the and the ring centre will eliminate the risk of splitting, especially when turning small diameter stock.

Whether you’re a production spindle turner or novice turner, you’ll find the the Axminster’s Pro drive, Pro live and multi-head centres super useful additions to your woodturning tool kit.