Been working on a solution for the long threading I need to do. I was going to put 2 bearings behind the center that I made to hold the dome of the screw. But after thinking about it, and getting pretty far along, I decided maybe I should make a proper follow rest. The southbend follow rest is far away from the cutting tip. Since I'm cutting screws I am going to use ball bearings, they are hard enough to resist the sawing action of the screw. The follow rest will be mounted on the right side of the carriage, but travel over it using angle irons to the left side in line with the tooling. I'll make that adjustable.
LAST NIGHT: I replaced my 2" indicator with my cheap HF indicator. It's been accurate... I didn't have room for the 2" on the lathe ways, I wanted a stop point for threading. I put the HF on... I just got done with dinner and I see the plastic cover (crystal) is smashed. Lucky me, I don't feel bad losing a HF indicator. Not sure what happened, but better than the 2" or the Federal that I normally move in there. Whew...