Description
A lathe dog (also called a lathe carrier or dog driver) is a mechanical device used in lathes to hold and rotate a workpiece so it can be machined with turning tools. It’s especially useful when the workpiece is mounted between centers (supported on both ends) rather than held in a chuck, or when the workpiece’s shape or size makes a chuck impractical.
The main purpose of a lathe dog is to transmit rotary motion from the lathe’s spindle or faceplate to the workpiece. This allows the workpiece to spin at a controlled speed while cutting tools shape it. Without a lathe dog, friction between the workpiece and centers may be insufficient to rotate the piece.
How It Works:
- Mounting the Workpiece – The workpiece is placed between centers on the lathe.
- Attaching the Dog – The lathe dog is clamped to the workpiece, often onto a protruding shaft, machined surface, or through an aperture in the dog body
- Driving the Dog – The dog’s tail engages with a driving stud on the faceplate or a slot in the faceplate, or it may hook onto a chuck jaw
- Rotation – As the lathe spindle or faceplate rotates, the dog turns the workpiece, enabling precise turning operations.
This lathe dog set will handle material sizes from very small up to 1.5" diameter.
It includes driver pins for lathes with an 80 mm spindle flange (including most mini lathes), and lathes with a 100 mm spindle flange.
Chris' Tips
The photo shows how to use a lathe dog and drive pin with the mini lathe.
Lathe dogs are the perfect solution for turning between centers. (That's where you mount a dead center in the headstock and another center -- usually a live center -- in the tailstock. (see our live and dead centers here!)You then mount the workpiece, which has a small divot machined into each end, between the centers.
To drive the workpiece, you place a lathe dog on it; the lathe dog is pushed around by a driver pin screwed in to a faceplate or the spindle.
Sounds complicated, right? So why turn between centers instead of just chucking your workpiece?
- It's very concentric, accurate (less runout than a chuck), and repeatable. That means you can remove your workpiece, measure it, test it, even flip it end for end -- and then put it right back on center.
- Because of this accuracy, it's easier to blend cuts that you make from both ends.
- It's easier for long or irregular workpieces that don't easily fit in a chuck.
- By offsetting the tailstock, you can accurately turn tapers.