Long Single Point Threading with a Follow Rest, Lion 23MT lathe 

When I was working for my father's engineering co in the north of Scotland in the 1960's during university vacations, a rush order came in on a Friday afternoon from the Dounreay Nuclear Power Station for 100 x 4" x 4tpi x 15" bolts, where they sent us the forged blanks. The foreman asked me to stay on over the week-end to do them. On Monday I proudly showed the foreman a bench full of completed bolts. He took one look at them and said: "Oh did I forget to tell you half of them should be left hand threads?" He was last seen running from the shop followed by a shower of 4" bolts.

The person that never makes any mistakes never does anything!

The last pass is called a "spring pass" done at the same compound setting to clean out the bits that didn't get cut due to excessive tool pressure. It would also have helped to remove the "mud and rust" from the stock before setting the follow rest. Some of the "chatter" might have been caused by the loosened setting of the follow rest due to it having scrubbed and washed off the crud on the first couple of passes. 🤞🇺🇦🕊️🇨🇦🍌👍

Hi Josh . Great use of a door stop ( traveling steady ! ) All i would do is undercut the OD of the bar at the thread finish point where the steady runs by 5 thou or so . This will allow the steady fingers to run closer to the thread OD & not bind when they run on the unthreaded part . The quick draw method is good that's how i was taught , no thread relief's . Not everyone can do it well , takes a lot of practice . 👍👍👍

Josh, Another great video and teaching tool for the uninformed ! What Ive used in my 45 years of gunsmithing and turning barrels to eliminate "whip" on the long end of stock protruding out thru the headstock, is a spider that threads on to the far end of the spindle. It can be dialed in to eliminate the whip, using a dial indictor the same way you true up stock in a 4 jaw chuck. Thus providing concentricity of the stock in 2 places, one entering and one exiting the spindle. With long thin stock or barrels this is a necessity, heavier, stiffer materials, in my case, 50 BMG barrel stock or bench rest barrels, I can support the turn end of the long stock with simply a live center. the chuck and the spider when Ii turn them down. Your application should be able to use the exact same process. It is nice to see the use of the follow rest, but in thick heavy stock like yours it wasnt necessary, thinner stock yes. Another thing is that the follow rest actually is being eroded by the ever increasing points of the thread in this use and causes harmonics and may actually tend to roll the tips, Notice that your chatter harmonics stop when the follow rest reached the end of the threads yet the cutter was still engaged in the cutting.....You can test for stock deflection between the chuck and the live center, ie measuring for any deflection from the cutting pressure, with a dial indicator.....Just saying......You did good, it worked, the job got done, the product or you weren't hurt...thats the important thing !!

I use a plastic sleeve in the back of headstock when I do long propeller shafts. Works great.

In the future try to run some sandpaper or emery cloth snd remove the rust and crap off the bar before using a steady rest....those are typically designed to follow an already machined surface.

Amazed that you can repeat the retraction of the cutter at the same place each time! I'm sure I'd break a cutter or 5!

If you can retract your compound rest as much as possible by adjusting your crossslide in, so t-slot for tool post (weakest point) in not out of the cross slide it will add alot of rigidity. 😉 enjoyed the video. Thanks

…..And after a long time watching these types of videos for ASMR, I finally understood why the other rest is called a “steady rest”! (it doesn’t move 😀)

Good to see you putting the new lathe through its paces.

My first visit to your channel and was very impressed. Now I can go back and see your other work. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

Hi Josh, chatter us caused by the steady. fingers to loose, put a bit more pressure on the back and top ones. Replace the insert will help.

I, for one, love the variety of creative shots.

Excellent

Golden work Josh good idea to use follow steady rest I remember watching abom79 do something similar without rest and he had all kinds of trouble on a new precision Mathews lathe your honest presentation is priceless and appreciated sir! 💯👈🏻👍🏻🇬🇧

Thanks for the video, great camera angles.

Great video Josh. Your production value has improved immensely since you began making videos. Thank you for your effort.

Muchas gracias maestro por brindarnos sus conocimientos bendiciones para ti y tu familia un fuerte abrazo 👍

I haven't heard anyone say anything about "slinky's" in 30yrs. WAY too funny 😂😂😂

Good job, really enjoy watching your shop work...

Well done Josh.

Fabulous video, thank you. I was holding my breath at times, not for the faint hearted 👍

Jhosh the best videos to learn good strategies with equipment. Will come my country santa cruz Bolivia

Thanks for the extra close up camera angles!!!!

First time using a follow rest. First time cutting that type of thread and you nailed it on the first go round. That's gettin it done right the first time.

I'm in the process of making a steady rest for my lathe, it came with no extras. After watching this I think I will make a follow rest as well. Thanks for the video.

Great job, nice photography as well, we appreciate the extra work involved. I see the fixed steady fouls on the compound, I had to modify mine to allow the cross slide to clear as well. Tough material. Thanks for sharing

Awesome job and that is an awesome tool

I enjoyed that--first class

great video mate. I love that lion lathe more and more every time I see it! what a wonderful machine!

Great video. Man that is a nice machine.

The only tip I can give you is keep doing what you're doing, great video, excellent camera work, keep'um coming..

Very nice lathe

We have a follow rest for our lathe but not used it yet. We have not tried thread cutting either so this video is great as it helped us learn a bit about both, thanks

Adjust the steady rest after each cut as the diameter of the bar gets smaller. That should get rid of 99% of the chatter. Max Grant was spot on with his tip.

We all do thing's different. If I'm cutting threads the tool MUST be held as rigidly as possible with the compound slide right back & the tool back in the toolpost. All the best to you from the UK.🇬🇧👍

Nice work

This video inspired me to try threading a long bar using the follow rest. Turned out good! New skill, I guess. I really like all your videos, not just this one.

Mike Rowe, that would be pretty cool. Your audio is just fine, keep up the great work and videos.

Josh, great info we've setup cathead & steadyrest to get initial surface for follow rest, runs a lot smoother, great vid

Great video again Josh. That Lion is a very impressive machine too.

Good work Topper . I used a follow rest only a couple of times but the thread was about a 3 foot in length. It took me ages because I was to cautious about it.

Always remember steady or follow you first need an accurate od to begin with!

As a lay person, always a delight to watch a master craftsman at work, no matter what trade. Thanks for sharing.

First for me seeing a follow rest set up! I don't have any either for my 3 lathes either.

Wow, massive threads!! Nice Josh!

There's something hypnotic and relaxing about watching the large slow thread cutting feature. Being over cautious by nature, I would have found somewhere to use the fixed steady too.Keep up the videos. Cheers

love your editing style and the projects you do. If you work out all the light stuff and really light your shots, i think you will be one of the top (pun intended) machinist channels in no time. Cheers and thanks for the content

Good job, love it, no quams from me...

We use that top notch tooling in our shop we never really noticed at first but it depends on how you chip the tip sometimes they just chip a little sometimes they will chip the whole front face with this problem they still fit back into the holder but will be at a different spot

Good

camera angles are very good variety

Dang, I can never get the steady in the right place, you made it look easy.

Lovely Lathe you got there , thats some Gearbox on it

Josh...I just saw this video... The last lead screw I cut was for a Bullard that a trucker took out a bridge with it. for "Centra Machinery" in Baltimore ,Md. years ago. (Clean the work off use emery cloth) After you clean the work off...set the follow rest directly in front of the threading tool...I use "Nylon Tips" on my steady ...or you can use "Delrin".... Vibration is a bitch!! Went you make your first pass...STOP Back the steady rest follow off the work when You reach the end of threading Rapid travel back to the beginning... Adjust the follow rest to touch the work plus a little... Take another cut. When end of the thread ,back the steady rest off and rapid back to the beginning. Touch the work again...the tips should form to the threads that were just cut... Repeat the operation again until you fit the nut... To measure the thread ...I use what's call "Thread Triangles" to the class of thread that's needed.....That's how I do it. I still learn somethings every day ...sometimes I have to re-learn it..... .....................Robbie

You are making leaps in your video making skills. Sometimes focus must be a pain and batteries are always a problem ;-) ...

Very nice! Good use of the follow rest. I really love that lathe. What a beautiful machine it is. I converted a support stand for a circular saw roller support for shafting to support the long end sticking out of the back of the headstock. If you do that kind of shaft work often it is worth the effort. IIRC Keith Fenner has a support like that, too. Thanks for the excellent video.

Good to see you and good to see you learning something new. I am not a machinist, just a former laser and plasma operator. I did not know that threads can be made in several passes. I thought it was a one pass deal. So there, you are not only a student but a teacher. You are right, I need to get out to my shop and make something. I tried something new, a 3D low poly dog. I ran into trouble with the head and I stopped working on him over two weeks ago. I did make a memorial plaque for a dog that passed a way but I do need to finish this other project. Thanks for the video!!!!😮😮🤔🤔🤔🤨🤨🤨😃😃😃

When cutting 4" dia course acme thread on 4140 steel about 3ft long, we took 1 or 2 passes and could see the bar start to move due to breaking of the outer skin. So we removed the bar from the lathe and sat on the floor for a day or so to let the stresses settle. Then reset back in lathe and finish the job.

biggest thread Ive done is 1 1/2 x 12 x 1' and had about the same finish you had. Had small chatter marks on lands of threads even though fit was spot on.I internal bored and threaded 3 shaft collars for this shaft and the threads inside the collars were completely smooth. Who knows kinda annoying but like you said Im new alittle to large threading and all.

I'm not a 'real machinist', so take this suggestion with a grain of salt. Had to turn a 1"-12tpi thread about 40" at work last year. My set up was pretty identical to what you had going...except i ran lathe in reverse and threaded towards the tailstock at around 180rpm. Took alot of the drama out because all I had to focus on was starting the cut and I just let it run out on the tailstock side. Got an acceptable finish at the higher speed taking shallower cuts. Pucker factor was pretty high! My boss bought me a case of beer after work because it was a 'needed the part YESTERDAY' kind of job. At my home shop I've only ever used the follower a handful of times.

You’re the first person I’ve seen tightening the chuck with all three screws, which is the correct way… most people only use one screw to tighten…

Just made a steady rest for my Harrison (UK) M250 lathe, traveling rest next project. My only comment would be to have the cutting point directly opposite the traveling rest fingers pads. Nice job on the bolts:-)

That sure is a nice lathe you have there. No doubt it will pay for itself in a few years and then continue to give you decades of service. Hope you've got better weather there than recently. Here in Queensland Australia, it won't stop raining and this is our dry season supposedly!

I've cut several Acme threaded screws over the years of lengths as you are doing using a follower rest. I can notice that your threads are a little torn from cutting. I would suggest using some good cutting oil like Mobil Mobilmet 766 or similar on the last few passes. (miss spelled) Yeah, I know that will contaminate your coolant. Nice work there and I like your new lathe. Wish I had the room for one! Thanks for sharing. Ken

Looks like you got the basic idea all rite, using a wire wheel to clean the bar stock before setup might help. Doing it will give you more experience so keep plugging away.

Such a sweet lathe and good video editing. If I were to offer my advice on this setup I would recommend skimming the OD of your round bar before threading. You could skim the first couple of inches after center drilling, then set your follow rest to that diameter while skimming the remainder in the 2nd setup. This would give your follow rest a uniform diameter for consistent contact. It also gives your finished thread a bit more of a flat on the crest, which again benefits the follow rest. I've done a few 6 TPI Acme screws on my 13x40 lathe and I had to take pretty light passes especially as the tool approached full depth. I know your lathe is far more rigid than mine, but lighter passes will help to alleviate chatter. Using the compound to advance your cutting tool also reduces load on the tool but of course you're already doing that.

Nice video Josh. I haven't used one either although I probably should have when contouring gun barrels from barrel blanks. You make it look easy, so I'll give it a try. Wish me luck!

I was shown on course threads to have the compound at 90 (normal ) then move it either way so you cut the front then the back of the thread while roughing it out. only a few thou but it worked.

Hi josh great engineering just a note for the follow rest machine some cups to fit over the end's of the steady rest while threading cheers Andy.

It all comes down to feed and speed on your particular Lathe and a finish idea cut and write it down in your memory Book . 🤓

I'd say Josh, Keith liked your overall setup - speeds and feed rate looks pretty good! Yeah snapping an insert would be a bummer. Camera angles were also very nice as well...

For the beginners, you should explain the function of the follower rest which is to eliminate deflection in the workpiece when there is a long distance between the chuck and tailstock. On that large bar it would be minimal, but on smaller diameter work, the deflection would be a lot without the follower. For such a coarse thread, it would be wiser to cut a full depth relief at the end of the thread- doing it your way risks breaking the tool if you miss the stop point and the cutter tries to suddenly cut a full depth into the stock.

fun video. you don't see the follow rest on you tube often. maybe snug up the follow rest to affect chatter.

It's too bad Mike Rowe was not Available for the narration he is my opinion the best National known advocate for the skilled trades the Mike Rowe foundation is a testament to his commitment to the skilled trades. Check out his videos. Josh love your camera angles makes me feel like I'm right there doing the job with you, the only thing missing was engaging the hall nut on the number even though i have seen it a thousand times it never gets old. Try holding a lead hammer or something wood on the stock to cut down on the chatter harmonics.glad to see the Lion roar for you.

To reduce the chatter, maybe a bit less stick out but I think the root cause is from the travelling steady not hugging the bar. It may have been touching at the start but you've just worn all the crud from the surface with half a dozen passes so they're not a good touch anymore. The rests point of contact has been reduced considerably as the thread appears so it has less contact area. The rests with rollers overcome this a little.

Hi Josh, just atched you big thread job , which reminded me of job I had many years ago, WE had Colchester Mascot Lathe 16x72 . next door to the shop was customer that made Transformers we were always making things for them, they said one time can you make couple leadscrews and nuts sure said my manager ,turns out to be Bronze nut steel screw , lead screw was 3inches Dia x70inches long 2start Acme thread 1/4 inch pitch 1/2lead think that right decided to make the nuts first to do this we had to make plug gauge first had to use thread wires to measure after working out what size useing Machinery Handbook , the nuts were about 6inches long made the nuts to the plug gauge we had made .Then came the leadscrews when we ground the thread cutting tool it was so wide the could not cut full form, had to firstr rough out with square tool then use full form tool to finish, to get 2 starts we moved the top slide over the correct pitch after measureing with thread wires and trying nut was to tight so had to move tool side to side to widen trouble was whih of 2 threads was the tight one this is where I too used the follw rest to stop vibration and chatter

Josh, It's nice to see genuine job shop work. Your video work gets better with each new posting. Now a couple of questions (not criticisms): 1) Does your steady rest have soft or hard 'faces' which engage with the work? 2) Did you need to remove any burrs from the thread crests between threading passes? Ian.

I find that as the crests start to form I have to tighten up the follow rest a bit, might help with the chatter. Also from whatever polishing the pads are doing to the part too.

Hi Josh Nice work on the threading. I tried turning some long thin parts with a follow rest and did not have much success. I did try running the rest before the cut and after. And it did not look very good, I was making a longer draw bar for my mill. Thanks

I’m a big fan of setting up a dial indicator at the end of my thread especially if I can’t put a relief in. I can stop very consistently to that dial compared to using the DRO. I prefer the top cutting thread inserts as well. I get a great looking thread with those. The downside is they are pitch specific.

My follow rest on my Monarch had carbide faced followers. I found it gave me fits getting good finish. I switched the tips to a soft bronze and it really dampened it and gave me better results. Might try making some poly caps and see what they do. I thought that might work well

Well done, you could do with an adjustable support for long work pieces (behind your lathe)

why not clean the rust off work piece first?

Great video I had to do this a few time on acme thread , thing is it messes up the brass on your follow rest,

👍👍😎👍👍

This job highlights one of the shortcomings of the American practice of swinging the compound over to 29.5 degrees. Unless the tool has the correct nose radius ( usually minimal for the type of tool used here ) the final thread will be cut too deep to get a good pitch diameter. You can see the result in the final images. Notice how there is no crest flat and the sharp root radius weakens the thread. You might try setting the compound parallel to Z i.e. the saddle axis and advance the compound a few thou for each pass to relieve pressure from the rear thread flank. Once to depth make a few "spring" passes again advancing the compound for each pass. This leaves a flat root and while not exactly the specified radiused root is much better than a sharp root. Another side benefit to keeping the compound set parallel to the Z axis is you now have an accurately calibrated and sensitive means to do shoulder work without a DRO or dial indicator and there is a less tool/compound overhang.

Hey Josh, I am a new subscriber and amature machinest. I am really enjoying looking back through your videos. The quality is really getting better. Good Job. About this video. I noticed that your tool post has a lot of unsupported overhang. This could contribute to the chatter you were getting, especially on such a long threading operation. Just a thought. Keep up the good work.

Last time I did this, it tore the crap out of my follow rest. You keep that up, and you will tear yours up too.

I haven't worked on a lathe for years. No engineering in London now.

In my opinion and I'm full of them, The best camera angle is a close up of the chip being pealed off. Thanks for your time

Mike Rowe....... haha good one it is a dirty job!

Good job! A little chatter but for rock crusher bolts its ok. I think I would have cleaned the barstock by running it between center and emery to get that rust and crud off. Then you could get the follower pads tighter on the work to eliminate the chatter.

For a standard tool you really only need the supports the top and back on your follow rest. I would back off the bottom support because if a chip gets sucked in there it will mess with those threads you worked so hard to make.

Thanks, nice video. One chip gets in those rest rollers and you won't be having a NICE DAY!

I know this old vid but you should try using something soft under the steady I use nylon cups that fit over them the cutting the thread Makes a small burr that must up the faces and need to be fairly tight on the back and top fingers I have done 16mm by 400 mm long square threads this way with out to much problems

I really enjoyed your video. Did you encounter burrs on the outside diameter that deflected the steady and thus affecting your tolerances down the screw length?

With the advent of the VFC, I'm surprised that a lathe manufacturer hasn't incorporated one to slow down the main spindle motor at a preset location based on input from the DRO. Maybe I'm dreaming, but that would be a pretty slick feature.... Great video!

The OD could have been polished with emory paper for the sake of the followrest. The chatter subsided when the followrest was on the solid(no threads).