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9" Utilathe Follower Rest
- Thread starter YYCHM
- Start date
That’s good price, Craig. Well done.
Even though you have lots of brass material, I would still only make caps for the push fingers. Make two sets, one to use and one for spares.
You could make a nice set of brass punches with the extra material. Even try out the follow rest making them…
Even though you have lots of brass material, I would still only make caps for the push fingers. Make two sets, one to use and one for spares.
You could make a nice set of brass punches with the extra material. Even try out the follow rest making them…
What do you consider one size smaller to be? My drill bits increment in 64ths. Also, what red thread locker do you use? I have some Permatex High Temperature Red Thread Locker that I'm not impressed with so far.
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Loktite 262 - stuff works well for me.
Now that you have 1/2” stock, you need to decide on the design of the buttons.
Here is what mine look like when I made the steady rest.
What I was getting at is make sure the button actually presses in. Decide on a size and drill the hole. Now measure the hole accurately, and make the pin portion deliberately oversized for a press fit. Also, make sure you have the head bottom out on the face of the push finger by either undercutting the pin-to-head transition (this is what I did - you can just see the undercut on the brass piece) or generously chamfering the hole in the finger (I also did that, just for double assurance) so that the radius does not ride up on the face of the finger and thus leave a gap.
You could just use a straight piece of brass. This is where I was going with the 1 size under: say you decide on a nominal brass cylinder of 3/8”. Drill the hole 23/64” at the most. Maybe even 11/32” and take a light skim of the nominal 3/8” brass rod. That way you will get a press fit. If you drilled 3/8”, chances are great that the brass rod will wobble in the hole as drills have a tendency to make holes oversized.
But since you have 1/2” rod to work with, you don’t need to worry about fitting nominal sized stock into a drilled hole. You have extra material you will be able to turn off and make a custom fit.
Now that you have 1/2” stock, you need to decide on the design of the buttons.
Here is what mine look like when I made the steady rest.
What I was getting at is make sure the button actually presses in. Decide on a size and drill the hole. Now measure the hole accurately, and make the pin portion deliberately oversized for a press fit. Also, make sure you have the head bottom out on the face of the push finger by either undercutting the pin-to-head transition (this is what I did - you can just see the undercut on the brass piece) or generously chamfering the hole in the finger (I also did that, just for double assurance) so that the radius does not ride up on the face of the finger and thus leave a gap.
You could just use a straight piece of brass. This is where I was going with the 1 size under: say you decide on a nominal brass cylinder of 3/8”. Drill the hole 23/64” at the most. Maybe even 11/32” and take a light skim of the nominal 3/8” brass rod. That way you will get a press fit. If you drilled 3/8”, chances are great that the brass rod will wobble in the hole as drills have a tendency to make holes oversized.
But since you have 1/2” rod to work with, you don’t need to worry about fitting nominal sized stock into a drilled hole. You have extra material you will be able to turn off and make a custom fit.
historicalarms
Ultra Member
Personally Craig I wouldn't use the complete brass bars for the fingers. The brass would deform & mar very easily from grub screw tightening. Brass plugs on the end of the steel would be the only option I would use.
And..... Done
This took me the better part of the day to complete.
Finger drilled and end cap turned down for press fit.
I used the tail stock to press the caps onto the fingers.
The first cap pressed in no problem. The second cap needed a little persuasion with a hammer
I turned the points with the flat caps mounted on the fingers. I'm really surprised with how well press fits work for this, I didn't need to resort to red thread locker at all. Added some very shallow key ways and dropped brass slugs and grease in ahead of the locking setscrews. Didn't have any lead shot that was big enough.
And all slicked up in Utilathe grey. I'll never use brush on TREMCLAD again.... What a PITA
This took me the better part of the day to complete.Finger drilled and end cap turned down for press fit.
I used the tail stock to press the caps onto the fingers.
The first cap pressed in no problem. The second cap needed a little persuasion with a hammer
I turned the points with the flat caps mounted on the fingers. I'm really surprised with how well press fits work for this, I didn't need to resort to red thread locker at all. Added some very shallow key ways and dropped brass slugs and grease in ahead of the locking setscrews. Didn't have any lead shot that was big enough.
And all slicked up in Utilathe grey. I'll never use brush on TREMCLAD again.... What a PITA
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That turned out great Craig very nice work 
Thanks Rudy. The image of your steady rest end caps inspired me to give the press fit caps a go.
And.... I really have to thank @Brent H for developing and posting the drawings. Although what I made isn't as eloquent, the dimensions the drawings provided made a functional facsimile possible.
Thanks Guys!
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No.... I'll try it as is before deciding if that upgrade is necessary.