Years ago I made a pneumatic follower rest that bolts to the front of my apron. A few years later Mark Stratten wrote his book and he shows how he made a pneumatic follower that is on the tailstock side of the tool.

For the past year or three I have been thinking about making a pneumatic follower that has only 2 cylinders, but sits directly in line with the tool. The tool would be the thrid leg supporting the work, with everything 120° apart.

I have been thinking of this to combat the problem of having the length of cut restricted due to the follower taking up room on the x axis. With my follower mounted in front of the tool, you can not take a cut all the way to the end of the axis. With Stratten's follower behind the tool, you need a valve to hold the cylinders open until they clear the center, then manually switch them on. With a 2 leg follower, I am thinking the only x travel you lose is the radius of the bronze tip on the end of the cylinder.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it is something that has always irked me. Do you see anything worng with this idea? ANy input or ideas would be appreciated!

Marc
IMO a rest like you describe would not be very effective. If you put enough pressure on the two pnuematic legs to dampen the vibration they will force your work into your cutter. I have personally never seen a system like you propose. One of the very best that I have seen was at Perazzi. They mounted two or maybe three ( suffer from CRS ) stationary three leg steadies on a fixture behind the apron. The rests were independent from each other and the apron. They were mounted so that the cutter would pass through the space between the top and bottom rollers. The rests would close and then self adjust as the cutter reduced the diameter of the workpiece. I have used a follower on the rear of the apron with great results, made a lot of shotgun barrels this way. The follower can be made to close automatically when it clears the tailstock.

I would like to se photos of this follower rest.

Sorry but they did not allow cameras. I wish I could give you a better description.