My New Steady Rest

M

Mark_f

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Quite a while back , I built a steady rest for my lathe. It used the telescoping arms which I really like. I am not happy with the look of the body on the steady rest. I want something closer to the original styling.
image.jpeg See what I mean. It just don't look right. It functions just fine, it's the look.

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image.jpeg I ordered this piece of steel tubing. It is 6" OD, 3" ID and 1 1/2" thick. I wanted a little bigger OD So I could keep the 4" ID, but it was not available.

I put the tubing in my lathe, faced both sides to 1 1/2" thickness, then turned the ID to 3.140", And the OD TO 5.940" to true it up.
image.jpeg I put the finished ring on my rotary table on the mill , centered it to within .001" , then drilled a .3125 hole every 120 degrees. Next I milled a 1" X 1" flat over each hole. These will get bored to .875" to fit the telescoping assemblies from my old steady rest. You can also see the hinge that is clamped in place and ready to be welded.

image.jpeg This is another view of the hinge.

image.jpeg This is the locking bolt block to hold it closed , also clamped in place to be welded. After welding, the ring will be cut in half. The lock bolt will be a swing away bolt.

Now, one other reason for rebuilding the steady rest is the top hole in the old one got drilled at a slight angle instead of square. This makes it not perfectly line up with the bottom two fingers. While it is functional, it is a cosmetic thing and bothered me since I built it. Plus the "look" bothers me.

image.jpeg I slid some 5/16" diameter rods in the reamed holes to check the alignment and as you can see here, it is good. The other purpose for these "alignment" rods is, this is too big to put on my mill and I don't own a boring head , however, I will put it on my milling table for my lathe and I can use my 4 jaw chuck boring head conversion to bore the holes on the lathe. ( that is how I did the original one). I will clamp the rod in a collet on the lathe spindle and that will align the hole for boring.
image.jpeg This photo shows the hinge and lock bolt block clamped for welding. I want these TIG welded but I am not allowed any where near a TIG welder. It will screw up my pacemaker. I now am held up until I find someone to weld the assembly.

I also have a better idea for the base to mount the steady rest to the lathe.
 
image.jpeg The next thing to do on this is bore the holes for the telescoping assemblies. To do this, I put the milling table on my lathe.
image.jpeg The piece is shimmed up to the right height and clamped in place. To locate the piece, a 5/16" diameter rod is put in the collet chuck. The part has a .3125 reamed hole. The rod is inserted into the hole in the part and it is clamped. This aligns the part for boring. I tightened the gib on the cross slide so it can't move.

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The next thing is to drill the hole out to .750"
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Now the hole can be bored to .875"
image.jpeg image.jpeg To bore the hole , I will use my little invention. It is a setup I made to convert my 4 jaw chuck into a boring head.

image.jpeg Here the hole is being bored. It must be a "hand" press fit on the sleeve.

image.jpeg The finished hole. This came out perfect. It took two hours to set up, drill, and bore. It stakes several passes to bore. The last ones only cut .001" to "sneak" up on the size. The fit and finish is excellent. Now...... Two more to do. image.jpeg
 
All the holes are bored , drilled , and tapped as required. Now it is time to cut the ring in half.
image.jpeg I clamped it in my saw and started cutting down the center.

image.jpeg It is cut in half and the hinge worked perfectly.

image.jpeg Next I will trim up the hinge and clamp. Then start making the base.
 
I got the telescoping assemblies installed.
image.jpeg They meet in the middle perfectly. I also made a hinge pin from .4375 drill rod. Fastened on each side with a "e" clip.


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image.jpeg The swing away clamp bolt is next. Made from .750 drill rod.
image.jpeg The brass knobs lock the fingers.
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image.jpeg Next is to make the base. I have a couple designs but not sure which I want to use yet. I am extremely pleased with this piece so far.
 
I cut a block out of the old steady rest body to make the block for the base.
image.jpegI cut the 90 degree groove to fit the lathe. image.jpeg It fits perfect. The .875" hole is in the center where I need it. I will make a bushing for it to hold the clamp bolt. I will make a front and rear plate to fasten the base and the steady rest together.
 
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