New Member

[Dipstick]

Hello all,

Have been a HSM and MWS subscriber for a couple of years now and have read the mail here off and on for a year or so. I have a few hundred basic questions about machining that I am sure will bring a smile to many of your faces. I'll start with just one. I just received a very nice follower rest for my craftsman 6" lathe but I really don't understand how it is supposed to work.

Once I make the first cut, the jaws will no longer be in contact with the work piece. Does this mean that I have to readjust the jaws after each cut?

Thanks
Mark

[torker]

Hello all,



Once I make the first cut, the jaws will no longer be in contact with the work piece. Does this mean that I have to readjust the jaws after each cut?

Thanks
Mark

Mark...Welcome to the zoo! You just answered your own question! Course...you could just put in a new piece of rod the same size as the first and you wouldn't have to readjust (Some local smarta$$ humour!)
Russ

[Dipstick]

OK Russ Thanks. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

[Tin Falcon]

Dip stick: Welcome. You could figure out a way to only take a cut on the front of the material . That way the follow rest still supports the back. LOL Maybee I am strange but I have been machining for 10 years mostly part time and a few years professionaly and have not used one yet. Neverless a valuable tool for long thin material.
Regards
Tin Falcon

[Evan]

I have one too that I got with my lathe. It needs a slight modification to bolt onto the carriage and I have never gotten around to doing it in 20+ years.

[Dipstick]

Thanks for the inputs guys.

I have had my lathe for close to 40 years and I don't remember ever turning a long thin piece but the follower rest seems like such a neat idea that I just had to have one.

I like Tin Falcons idea and am going to give it a try after lunch. This would actually work if you needed to machine a slot in a long slender piece since the slot would be on the front side and the follower rest would support the back side.

Dipstick

[SGW]

You start the cut, presumably at the tailstock end. As soon as you've gone far enough to the left to permit the follower rest to contact the work, stop and adjust it to contact the short section you've just made the cut on. Then continue turning down the rest of the piece.

Next pass, you have to do the same thing.