Quite a common issue with rifle barrel work, check out YouTube for 'spiders'.

Here's just one example:

**LINK**

Hi David,

For doing the sort of thing that you want to do, I use a length of plastic water pipe over the end hanging out. Two G clamps, a length of wood and a stool.

Edited By John Baron on 06/08/2017 21:20:30 "Spelling"

Edited By John Baron on 06/08/2017 21:21:52

A friend wanted me to turn some features on a 3mm, 350mm long aluminium rod. Drilled a 3.5mm hole in an offcut bar and made them hold it.

Whatever you use, block of wood, metal or whatever, make sure the thin rod passes through a hole in it, not an open-topped V notch or similar. You want the end of the rod to be captive so it can not possibly bend and whip around, turning into a meat shredder.

I saw this happen once when an apprentice put a four foot length of 5/16 rod in a 9" Hercus lathe (same as Boxford or South Bend) without the correct stand in place. (This was a heavy tripod with a piece of 1' pipe welded at rightangles on top of it for the thin bar to pass through.) Another Einstein apprentice walked past as the unsupported bar was spinning around at 1,000 rpm and seeing the end was gyrating around in a small circle, say 4" diameter, gave it a whack with his hand to try to set it on centre.

Instead, the bar bent at 90 degrees at the point where it came out of the lathe spindle and we had a three-foot long propellor blade whizzing around at 1,000 rpm. The end of that bar would have been travelling at about 20,000 feet per minute. Over 220 miles an hour. Luckily none of the half dozen apprentices working within a few steps' distance, including Einstein, was injured. But that was purely good luck. Could have been a fatal or a terrible maiming for life.

If you have a milling table right there, I would drill a 3/4" hole in a stout piece of 4" x 2" wood and clamp it to the milling table, set at the lathe centre height of course. Set this up well in from the end of the bar so it can't flex and escape under rotation.

Edited By Hopper on 07/08/2017 04:41:36

With 600mm between ctrs on your lathe you could just use the fixed steady, have about 500mm sticking out the chuck and 300mm inside the spindle, support end of rod with steady.

Could also clamp the fixed steady to the mill if you wanted which will be a bit more rigid setup as the turning will be near the chuck.

Edited By JasonB on 07/08/2017 08:05:11

I don't like the setup in the video, it's asking for the bar to roll off the top of the block and start something nasty.

Minimal effort to use a block with a hole in it and MUCH safer.

<edit> or you could fit a g-clamp to the top of the block to surround the bar.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 07/08/2017 10:51:47

If doing this job I would grip the studding in the chuck (preferably collet) and support the tail end in a bush. JAR described a way of doing this in his book. This photo shows the tool in use:

Please ignore the nut on the studding which was there as part of a temporary drawbar.

Well lot's of advice here but really chaps. The answer is so easy, and I know because I have been doing something similar this weekend.I was producing a 6mm diameter with a length of 70mm on one end of a piece of 10mm stainless steel. The length of the stock I was using was 1250mm overall. I simply put it in a 3 jaw chuck and fitted 3 very roughly carved wedges in the tail end of the spindle, just to assist in stopping too much flex in the exposed bar. Then I just turned the end to size at a reasonable speed. In this instance 400RPM. The wedges didn't stay in place but it made no difference to the process. I also do the same on 0.445, 0.525, 0.600 and 0.710 A/F hexagon stainless steel bar when making stainless bolts etc for my motorcycle restorations. Of course I do then part off the bolt length including the head, at the same speed, but until that point the process is the same. Again I buy 1000mm and 1250mm lengths. In reality it would only be necessary to fit the kinds of supports that you guys have been talking about if the length was over 1800mm on a small lathe. HTH

Apart from the wedges I'm not sure I go along with MadMike's advice. My experience of whipping is that it's unpredictable. It depends on many different factors: overhang length, diameter, material, rpm, lathe rigidity, resonances, and chance of accidental contact etc. Rather than take the risk of being injured alone in my workshop, I just use a length of 2 by 4 with a suitable hole in it to constrain the overhang. The 2 by 4 is held in a portable workbench and it's very easy to set up. I am a Cowardly Lion though!

Dave