Thread: Steady rest

Tony, you did a good clean job on your rest. Just that you should make you proud of a job well done. I'm going to describe the one I made below. Do not take it as criticism.

Mine was made just like yours, but instead of a Hexagon, I left the left side open about 12". It looks like the one you first showed which is a reversed "C". It was designed that way because I found times that I really needed to mount it while I still had a piece between centers when the tail stock couldn't and shouldn't be removed. Besides, it is pretty heavy, and I'm getting weaker in my old age. To simplify mounting, I made a clamp that fit through the ways, and rotated clockwise 90 degrees and locked when I tightened it on the ways. The arms were not locked in a rigid position but free floating in order to position them where I think pressure or stability is needed. It was done that way because when reading about others steady rests, they always complained about the arm at 10-11 o'clock. It was in the way of lights or maybe a camera. Can't really remember.

The arms can also be flipped 180 degrees in order to get wheels to come together for smaller spindles and long items. The bolt holding the arms screw into a solid piece of steel tapped all the way through to be able to mount the wheels on the other side of the 2" tube at different spots along the item's surface without repositioning the rest. I can get almost a 5" distance on mine. Yours, if you were to remove the retaining screw and flip the bar 180, if my calculations are correct, you can gain a 1 1/2" difference from the wheels being inboard or outboard.

The downside of my open rest is if the form I'm turning has warped, I have to deal with a shaky rest even though it's pretty sturdy.

When you are using it, do you use a square to align the wheels 90 degrees to your project, or do you just mount it and start turning. ................ Jerry (in Tucson)USA

Thanks for the comments Jerry. Should have mentioned that there is a piece of 6mm plate welded under the base that fits between the lathe beds and aligns the steady "perfectly" every time.
This steady was built for larger hollow form/vases and I can work with having remove the tailstock to put the steady on. Still have the smaller "C" shaped one which I can use for pepper grinders where i do find the centring issue that you describe above. If I ever decide to use a light for measuring the wall thickness Ill deal with that at the time.

Tony

Tony

Hi Tony , nice job on the rest mate , well done looks good and solid

I like, its just a shame I don't have a welder, otherwise mine would've looked like yours. not from doubled up 19mm ply. as posted recently. nice work. I think if I spray mine black no-one will know its timber, hahahahaha

Thanks Fumbler. Got a feeling that you dont need to overthink a steady for what most of us do. The old setup I had been using, with the wobbly wooden block to lift it up, worked and I turned quite a few things using it. But the new one is noticeably more solid when turning something big.

Tony

Originally Posted by tony_A

. Got a feeling that you dont need to overthink a steady for what most of us do.

Trust me, overthinking is my 2nd past time, cant help myself.

Nice build. I have used inline skate wheels to build a camera dolly, got the skates for a few bucks from the local tip. That jig would give me a lot of confidence turning weird stuff, thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by gombul

Nice build. I have used inline skate wheels to build a camera dolly, got the skates for a few bucks from the local tip. That jig would give me a lot of confidence turning weird stuff, thanks for sharing.

Got any pictures of your dolly?? .............. Jerry (in Tucson)USA