Follow rest

I've seen someone post an article about a tool holder which included a steady rest as part of it. I forget whether it was a commercial device, or someone's homebrew. You might be able to make something which will clamp with the last two setscrews in the holder and use a fairly sort tool under the first two setscrews.

In my case, the traveling steady for my Clausing bolts to the saddle extensions to the left of the carriage, and I can offset the BXA sized toolpost with a combination of sliding the T-nut to one side and using the compound to offset it enough.

But for the ones which bolt to the underside of the carriage, like the South Bend ones, I'm not sure what you could do.

Yes -- with lots of care to protect the ways with that long a travel of the carriage. My carriage won't even *go* 26". It is a

12x24" machine. :-)

Good Luck, DoN.

Here's one:

there is also a commercial product similar except all steel and more compact, but I can't find it right now.

Looks interesting, but the page is several years old & several of the photo links are messed up. I sent an email to see if he still exists.

Doug White

Whenever I see something like that, my first thought is "Could I build something like that? Could I build it better?" I think that I could. One of the first things I thought could be changed is the capacity. That looks like it could handle very large stock. But how large do you need a follower for? My lathe is 10 x 24. What is the minimum diameter of a 24" piece that I can turn between centers without a follower?

1.5"? If so, the follower would only have to handle up to 1.5". Much less than the one shown and easier to build.

Oh, wait ... I guess that one might use a follower for stock in a chuck where the stick out is too long. I.e., not between centers. Where the diameter might be larger than 1.5.

I dunno, but I think that one that would handle 1.5" stock would be useful and easy to build. I'll think about it.

Bob

Yeah I saw that one, but didn't like the lack of apparent rigidity, and not having rollerized work followers.

There is a better commercial version of similar design, all steel and more compact. I just couldn't locate it yesterday. I have seen it it in more than one of the big tool vendors catalogs.

For the curious: I got an email back from the guy. He said he stopped making them, but if he could find the parts, an AXA sized one would be $150.

Doug White

Here's a home made one that may not be rigid, but has rollers:

The rigidity could presumably be improved.

Doug White

"oldjag" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@m34g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

Just another possibility----

A 3 ft chunk of 17mm oil hardening drill rod is less that $20. If it would work, that eliminates the turning part of the job and maybe even the grinding part, depending on what you need.

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@m34g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

This is a swing arm shaft, and the 4140 provides a little more of a safety factor than the drill rod. The shaft will be threaded on each end after cutting it to size. So far I have not been able to locate

4140 shafting or ground stock in metric diameters. If all else fails, I may try to find somewhere to have it centerless ground to size.

My connection is as a satisfied customer.

Many times I have called MSC when I need something that isn't in the catalog, but is close to something that is. The almost always contact the vnedor and usually are able to quote it right there.

A 3 foot 17mm piece of drill rod sounds like a good candidate.

Pete Stanaitis

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oldjag wrote: