I'm thinking of turning something which has a longer taper than my compound can travel. This leads me to tailstock setover. I am considering mounting a 2" boring head on a MT shank so I can put it in my tailstock, and turning a piece of 1/2" (round) tool steel with a small ball on the end about the size of a BB. This ball shank/boring head setup would replace the dead center, allowing easy adjustment. More than that, though, I just don't like using a 60° center off by a few degrees, it just doesn't seem solid to me. I know guys have been doing it for 100 years but I like the idea of a little ball better.
What do you guys think?
GWE