- Joined
- Jul 28, 2017
- Messages
- 2,350
I finished this yesterday:
It works fine for Acetal and aluminum. I haven't tried it on steel yet. The fingers have 1/2" ball bearings on the tip. Base and vertical piece: 6061 aluminum. The photo also shows the riser block I made to replace the wussy compound, and the post mounted on it is for my Norman-style QCTP I made (these were earlier projects for the lathe). Almost all of the pieces for the steady rest were made on my benchtop mill. IIRC, the only items made on the lathe were three spacers underneath the ball bearings so they would turn freely. I did make one item on the lathe that was used as part of the machining setup on the mill (a post that was used as the pivot point while I milled the slots for the steady rest fingers).
It works fine for Acetal and aluminum. I haven't tried it on steel yet. The fingers have 1/2" ball bearings on the tip. Base and vertical piece: 6061 aluminum. The photo also shows the riser block I made to replace the wussy compound, and the post mounted on it is for my Norman-style QCTP I made (these were earlier projects for the lathe). Almost all of the pieces for the steady rest were made on my benchtop mill. IIRC, the only items made on the lathe were three spacers underneath the ball bearings so they would turn freely. I did make one item on the lathe that was used as part of the machining setup on the mill (a post that was used as the pivot point while I milled the slots for the steady rest fingers).