Another way to chamber in the ?? steady

Butch is that a barrel polisher, or is he sanding for final finish on a newly attached muzzle break? The Picture has a lot going on, and not anything very close up to see great detail.

Paul
 
Butch,
That was a brilliant piece of work that your friend posted. I chased back through the thread and found his explanation of how he made the piece. It is as follows.

SilveradoHauler
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Aluminum
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Mountains of Washington State, USA
Posts: 212


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Quote:
Originally Posted by wesg
What did you make that out of?

The gray casting was a babbit bearing for a log conveyor, rescued from the scrap box. I bored out the babitt, and bored recesses for the outer races of the angular contact ball bearings supporting the spindle. The structure under the casting is a weldment made from 4 inch ship channel. Ship channel is channel iron with a much heavier thickness and flat internal flange surfaces (nice for the clamp nut). Top and bottom surfaces of the ship channel were trued in a milling machine after welding.

The pads that run on the ways are ductile iron bar stock. Critical surfaces machined. Attached with socket head capscrews, countersunk from the bottom.

Look close and you can see the brass shim stock that was used to bring the centerline of the spindle up to the same height as the lathe centerline.
 
Pictures of someone's work often makes a guy critique it. What comes to mind is a lot of questions such as what did he do before, why did he do it like that, how much work was that compared to the alternative and why is this a better way. In this case, since he can't put the whole barrelled action through his headstock, he needs to hold the muzzle without damaging the crown. I would have used a plastic expanding insert inside the bore to hold that end in the tailstock [a little bit of runout is not an issue with a belt polisher] but he decided to build that contraption. But, I'm sure he does more than just polishing with that assembly. This device, akin to a steady rest jig, has been discussed before and I know I have considered it. Easiest solution is to buy another steady rest and use your action jig. The reason I haven't bought another steady rest is simply money VS requirement. I should check out my cost of another steady.

Its good to see different ideas, that is certain.
 
It looks to me like using the pictured item, and a four jaw chuck, in the normal position on the inboard side of the headstock, a barrel could be dialed in in exactly the same way as if it were through a headstock that had a large enough hole, with the muzzle offset as needed to align a chamber to the rear of the bore, or making a crown square to the bore immediately behind it. A friend has a 9" SB that he found an extra headstock for, and split to make something similar to what is pictured. He found it very handy for certain projects. I am not sure how this could be done with a steady rest.
 
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