12" Follow Rest

[jfcayron]

I am considering building my own follow rest for my 12"x36" Craftsman/Atlas lathe (101.27440)
Before I get started, I would like to see how the OEM model attaches to the machine.

If anyone has diagrams/drawings/pictures, it would be very much appreciated.:worship:

 

[wa5cab]

JF,

The Atlas follower rest attaches toward the rear of the cross slide dovetail. You have to remove the chip cover first. I don't have the machining drawings but if you want it, I can send you a PDF of the one page Atlas instruction sheet. I'll need your email address. I was going to upload it to the Downloads section but for some reason the server says I lack permission to do that. Which is strange, as I used to be able to.

Robert

 

[jfcayron]

JF,

The Atlas follower rest attaches toward the rear of the cross slide dovetail. You have to remove the chip cover first. I don't have the machining drawings but if you want it, I can send you a PDF of the one page Atlas instruction sheet. I'll need your email address. I was going to upload it to the Downloads section but for some reason the server says I lack permission to do that. Which is strange, as I used to be able to.

Robert

PM sent

 

[TRX]

I needed a follower rest for my 10", and after looking at how much an Atlas one was running on eBay I thought about making my own. There were various improvements I wanted to make, such as being able to put the followers on either the left or right side of the cut, depending on what I was doing.

I had something sketched out when I decided to go nuts. I bought one of the T-slot cross slides from MLA (A-11 from statecollegecentral.com). It was about $88 with shipping and the extra material for the gib, etc. It's an unmachined iron casting, so I'll have to finish it before I can use it.

I then ordered one of the follower rests from Little Machine Shop for the 7x10 mini-lathe, which is about $45 with shipping.

All I need then is a spacer block to mount the follower at the correct height.

I just ordered everything three days ago, so nothing's here yet...

Still cheaper than eBay, plus I'll be able to mount a toolpost on the back with a cutoff blade when I'm not using the follower. There should be enough room for an adapter to mount my compound to the T-slot table, though I'll probably have to make a lower-profile toolholder block, or cut the one I already made down to fit. I'd like a nice wedge QCTP, but I blew the tool budget for a while...