I used to wonder why there was a tapped hole in the "blank" side of my Aloris tool post:
Now I know - it's to mount this gizmo I made up:
It's a work stop I can attach to the tool post in addition to a tool holder, and it adjusts fore and aft, in and out, so the pointer can hit the center of rotating stock:
I recently made up a batch of 700 "Jack the Gripper" tools and I figured I'd save quite a bit of time if I didn't have to cut all the shafts to precise length so I could use a regular collet stop.
For this job, I had as much as about a half inch variation in length of the pieces, and using my work stop, there was no need to worry about how far they stuck out from the collet (within reason, of course).
Here, I'm turning the eccentric end, and I simply crank the carriage to the left by hand:
Cutting progress is quick and easy:
At the end of the cut, the pointy end of the work stop vibrates like crazy as it touches, and I stop my cut:
And, yes, I did save time!