Hey Grant,

A (fixed) steady rest is the proper thing, if you have one. Just
chuck one end in the three jaw, and in the steady rest as close to
"even" as possible by eye at the other end. (You could fiddle around
with dial indicators, setting it dead on, but it's not necessary).
Run very slowly, and you will be able to pick up the centre with no
trouble with a sharp small lathe tool in the compound. Use that
located point to centre drill into. Repeat for the other end.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 09:23:10 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:

I want to center drill a large shaft. The shaft is about 24" long and
is from an old machine tool, but the ends were never drilled for centers.
The shaft is too big to pass through my lathe spindle. I can suss out how
to face the shaft off square, lay out and centerpunch a hole as closely
as I can, and I can then chuck one end of the shaft on the last 1/8" of
the jaws and hold the other end in my hand and gently "pick up" the
centerpunch with a center drill in the tailstock chuck. That way would
get me pretty close, but it would not be exact. I could then mount it
on a center in the tailstock and bring up a steady rest and then remove
the tailstock center and using a tiny boring tool, bore the center, but
how do I know the steady rest isn't just a little bit off?

What is the *actual* procedure for this?

Grant