Using a follower rest

[mickri]

For the first time this week I had to use a follower rest. On my craftsman lathe the follower rest is at the tailstock side of the cross slide whereas the tool bit is at the headstock side of the cross slide. There is roughly 2 1/2" distance between the two. I think that this creates a bend in the work. That would defeat the purpose of the follower rest. In watching some videos the consensus seemed to be that you want the tool bit just in front of the follower rest. I could do that with my lantern tool post or by swiveling the tool holder 180 degrees. But then the closest you could get the tool bit to the headstock end of the work would be a little over 2 1/2 inches. I need some guidance on using a follower rest.



This brings up another turning between centers question. At the tailstock end you can take cuts all the way to the end of the work. Yet at the headstuck end you can't take cuts all the way to the end of the work because of the lathe dog. Do you swap the work end for end to turn the portion that was blocked by the lathe dog? And then do you swap end for end again so that the final pass is the same for both ends?

I ask this question because the action mandrel I just finished making has to be turned between centers when used. Took me forever to make this.

 

[Janderso]

The steady that is made for my 15X50 mounts to the headstock side of the cross slide. Would this be a better configuration? It seems like it would.
Is your steady made for the lathe?
I can see your dilemma.
Someone that knows something will be along.
We don't see much on this subject.

 

[pontiac428]

That's the correct lunette for the Atlas. The discrepancies you are encountering are what I call the limitations of the method.

When turning between centers, there are no limits on swapping the part end for end. That is one of the real attractive benefits of using centers. Sometimes you have to get creative, which is okay as long as you achieve your intended results.

You remove the lunette when you get close to your tail center. The center supports the work and you are close to it compared to the flexy condition that occurs in the middle of the work.

Moving or swapping a dog is also okay. You can come back to the lathe and put the part accurately on centers at any time.

IMHO, turning between centers is the "purest" form of lathe work.

 

[benmychree]

Or, one could fabricate an opposite hand follow rest. The disadvantage to that would be that it would make it difficult to approach the tailstock closely without possibly excessive overhang of an (extended) tailstock quill. I have seen some that set the jaws near the center of the cross slide.
One problem is that nearly all folks use QC tool posts or turret posts that create the problem, your type of follow rest was made to use the lantern tool post.

 

[mickri]

Well I have discovered another nice benefit to my norman style QCTP. I can swivel the tool holder 180 degrees. This would allow me to position the tool bit from in front of the follower rest to maybe slightly behind it. Gives me options to think about how I might to position things the next time I use the follower rest.

 

[benmychree]

Yes, it is certainly possible to swivel the tool post around, I sometimes do the same with my Aloris type QCTP to position a dovetail on the right side, but sometimes have to remove the handle to avoid it being in the way of operations.

 

[ericc]

The swiveled configuration is what is most familiar to me. When I used a follower rest, there were two choices. One was to fabricate one similar to the one on Practical Machinist, which is offset towards the chuck. The second is to go with the traditional configuration and use the lantern toolpost. I did the latter. Of course, I had to forge a lantern toolpost. It worked.

 

[benmychree]

When I bought my 19" Regal back in the 1980s, it had all the tooling, except the tool post, so I went direct to the Aloris CA, it was not until a few years ago that I made a lantern tool post because there were several times that it would have been more convenient for some jobs; I still have not used it ---

 

[Weldingrod1]

When I made my first follow rest, I followed ;-) Hardinge's lead. I had never used one and didnt really know what was important. End result was useless... scream.
Version 2 rocked!
You want to completely trap the work between the steady bits and the tool. And, CRITICALLY, you want sliding surfaces, NOT rollers. With rollers you end up driving over chips. Sliders push the chips away.
Version 2 was able to pick up and full thread a 4" long 1/4"-28 capscrew!

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[benmychree]

On every follow rest that I have ever seen, one jaw is horizontal to back up the work, and the other is vertical or tipped forwards a bit towards the operator; that way, the tool can cut directly under the vertical jaw, something impossible with this design, there is no reason to have the underneath jaw.