I'm on a quest for an easy and accurate solution for working on shorter barrels. In the past, I would make aluminum bushings for each barrel and run them in a steady rest. The bushing was to prevent marring on the barrel as I spend a fair amount of time working on finished barrels. Obviously that is unsustainable and I need to find a better way. I actually disassembled my steady rest in an attempt to build a cathead only to realize the steady rest would need some machine work done to it that I don't have machinery capable of doing. I may end up trying to sort this out but till then I am wondering if there is an easy option. Is someone out there making machine-specific catheads or something else to make this easy?
FYI my machine has outboard spiders and the distance between the spiders and chuck jaws is 20". So this is to work on those >20" barrels.
FYI my machine has outboard spiders and the distance between the spiders and chuck jaws is 20". So this is to work on those >20" barrels.