Simple plan? Not that I've seen.
I have been watching for a follower for my Sheldon for several years now with no luck....I literally check eBay every single day as well as several of the used machinery dealers probably every other day.
I considered modifying one from another machine but that has drawbacks. For one, most are cast iron so if you need to make it taller/shorter, move it with some sort of offset plate, etc, you're stuck with drill/tap/bolt connections and there isn't much space for large bolts on a follower that size. Brazing extensions on is a possibility for some folks I guess. I just can't imagine spending $150, putting a bunch of time into it and still wind up with a Frankenstein part that isn't really right.
I've needed one enough times that I've started to make one and it's fairly involved. I've got quite a few hours into it....a lot of it just measuring and trying to come up with a plan. The only advantage I can see is that it's going to probably have a larger capacity than the factory follower and I suspect the fingers will be closer to the tool. The originals were meant to line up with a traditional lantern tool post and a QCTP pushes the tool quite a bit closer to the headstock.
I'm using bolts to get everything line up and when it's done and I'm confident things line up I'll TIG weld the sections together. It's still a work in progress, and there are things I need to clean up eventually. Where the horizontal plate meets the front of the vertical plate doesn't match...neither my bandsaw or cutoff saw could handle that angle so I did it with an angle grinder...need to blend it or it'll bother me forever!
It'll still be a Frankenstein, but at a fraction of the cost.
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