Long nose live center

[Papa Charlie]

Have you tried using a follow rest? You may not be able to use it once you get down to the contour, but it would help in the beginning. Maybe even in the final stages too.

 

[LeChuck]

I haven't thought of that but worth trying eventually.

 

[petertha]

I have what I think is the same Shars. I can't fault it, its been run for many hours & no issues. Runout doesn't register on my tenths DTI. Sometimes you just get a Monday model. The Euro/USA models were just more than I wanted to spend. (model engine valves)

 

[petertha]

One thing - I didn't read every single post but when was the last time you checked your tailstock alignment relative to spindle? Sometimes they drift with use or a bump or whatever. This might be influencing matters. When I was a newbie pup I broke a couple carbide centers drills one after another, thinking it was the material or the feed. Nope, it was a centering issue. Well worth the time to correct & monitor.

 

[Jim F]

One thing that has not been mentioned is, what is your lathe ?
If you are doing this kind of work on a 13x40 lathe. it might be good to look at a mini.
Most pen makers use mini's.