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9" Utilathe Follower Rest

What do you have for brass stock? I would base it on that.

1/4”, 5/16” or 3/8” would probably work. You could always leave a bit of your taper you have on the fingers already to make the brass “blend in” a bit more. Use a smaller rod first and see how that looks; you can always go bigger if it is too small. Really up to you.

Just make the hole one size smaller that the stock you have. Turn the brass down to press into the hole.

I would not go by drill size to make the brass pin as a drill will most likely give a hole that is oversized.

Measure the hole and make the brass oversized wrt the actual hole dimension.
 
Ooooops.... I'm closer to being on center than I thought:)

Fitment5A.JPG


Ends up that chuck key I was aligning with wasn't straight at all. If you spun the chuck by hand you could see the end wobble. Looks much better with a dead center cucked up.
 
More progress....

LockingScrews (1).JPG


Today I added finger locking set screws. Had to resort to clamping to the table in order to drill and tap two of them.

LockingScrews (2).JPG


All tapped....

LockingScrews (3).JPG


It's coming together. Need to source some brass round stock tomorrow........
 
Hey Craig well done, don't stop now you definitely have a winner. Adding a QCTP would help likely in your shop plans. LOL
 
Looks great Craig. Thanks for the information, I hope it is still here in a few years when I get around to making one for myself.
 
YYCHM said:
That's brilliant..... Have to think on this now. I was planning on cutting a keyway on the support fingers (?don't know if there is a proper name them?) such that locking set screws would enter the keyway rather than mar/damage the finger surface and make future adjustment a challenge. That arrangement would negate the ability to rotate them.
Click to expand...

Craig to protect your fingers from grub screw damage, create a lead slug ( any old shotgun pellets will work as well) that fits into the grub screw hole. Will conform to finger OD when tightened without maring the finger. It might remain tight to the finger when you want it loose for adjustment, but a slight tap to the flat end of the finger will loosen it up
 
Are you lining everything up now so that ultimately this joint will be welded? Or maybe I missed how this was joined from underneath?

1625594987438.webp
 
Looking good. I wouldn't weld if your going to use bolts to hold those base pieces together.
 
Ya just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting welding, just wondering what the plan was. Dowel pins + retention bolt is another mode, arguably less potential for shifting or movement. But you don't have a lot of real estate to work with. I rarely use my steady so I don't have a good feel for the deflection forces being transferred. I have plans for a toolpost mounted lightweight travelling steady for really delicate stuff - one day I'll get around to it.
 
What size bolts are you using to mount the rest to the saddle (red circles)?

2DF53E9B-32CD-4994-B581-5479AF1A2957.jpeg


The single 1/4-20 SHCS is used to hold the upright (green circle)?

I would make the base-to-upright connection at least as strong as the follow rest-to-saddle.

You are working with 1” wide material, yes? You should have room for more than one bolt from the base to the upright. Or use a bigger one - 1/4-20’ is a bit weak in my view if that’s the only thing holding the two parts together.

The connection of the two parts should be stronger than the weakest section of the solid part. So the joint won’t flex.
 
RobinHood said:
What size bolts are you using to mount the rest to the saddle (red circles)?

View attachment 15974

The single 1/4-20 SHCS is used to hold the upright (green circle)?

I would make the base-to-upright connection at least as strong as the follow rest-to-saddle.

You are working with 1” wide material, yes? You should have room for more than one bolt from the base to the upright. Or use a bigger one - 1/4-20’ is a bit weak in my view if that’s the only thing holding the two parts together.

The connection of the two parts should be stronger than the weakest section of the solid part. So the joint won’t flex.
Click to expand...

The base is bolted to the saddle with two 5/16-18 SHCS.

The base is bolted to the upright with a single 1/4-20 SHCS. I don't think it's possible to add more screws to the upright, unless they are small.

Weld them together? I could silver solder them together... Maybe....that's a lot of metal to heat up.
 
Two 5/16-18 SHCS give you a clamping force of ~4719 lbs max each —> ~9438 lbs total holding your rest to the saddle when torqued to the max.

The little 1/4-20 only provides about ~2864 lbs max clamping force.

If you replace it with a single 7/16-14 GR8 bolt, your clamping force of the joint will be ~9568 lbs max.
So at least as strong as the rest is clamped down to the lathe.

A 3/8-16 GR8 bolt would give you ~6974 lbs. More than double the 1/4-20 value.

[all values are theoretical; real life values will most likely be less; the numbers are for comparison only]

Perhaps something to consider. Still no welding/brazing needed, thus no distortion.
 
Ahhhhh..... does this seem right to you?

BrassRod.JPG


31.75" of 1/2" solid brass round for $20.14 tax in. Found it in the cut offs bin and was expecting to be quoted something in the order of $40-$45.

I now have more than enough 1/2" brass round that I could make the follower support fingers solid brass rather than trying to add brass caps to 1/2" steel round. What do you think of that idea?
 
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