Steady rest for my bench lathe

[Alcap]

A steady rest for my little Chinese bench lathe was on my wish list since I got it a few years ago . I found some kind of fixture in the scrap dumpster at work , sand blasted it and was under the bench since . I’m waiting for parts and supplies for some other projects so I figured I would at least start and then figure out what other material will be needed . First thing I needed to make the opening as big as possible, it also wasn’t round to begin with . As always it’s a learning experience, my little boring head needed the bar in the horizontal position so the carbide tip ones that came with it wouldn’t work I need LH ones . i bought some round 12mm HSS from Amazon thinking it was harden like my square bit on my lathe . Ground a bit that I thought should work but didn’t take long to realize that yes it was hard but not hard enough to cut especially the interruptions lol Went back to see what I ordered and its air hardening , read some on heat treating but since the only thing I have is a torch set gave up on using that for now . Kept on thinking on how to use my square bits in the 12mm round hole in the boring head without damaging it. Came up with a 3/4 round holder for the square bit . Took a piece of 1/2” OD hydraulic tubing band sawed a 1/4 off the length . The bit was chamfered and works fine . For those thinking “ why not use your rotary table ?” Didn’t think of that until after getting the HSS bit working lol Once I get it opened up Ill be able to mock it up better on the lathe. You’ll notice the one picture of the set up the set screws are missing , they didn’t like the first bits vibrations lol

 

[Alcap]

It took a little time but cutting nice until I hit a piece that was harden sandwiched between the top section , even trying a shallow once it hit that spot it took the edge off the tool . I was only going to go just a little larger anyway .

 

[Alcap]

I started on the mount for the steady rest though now am having second thoughts about being able to cut the dovetail . The overall height is around .815 “ . It only needs to be done on the rear the front will have a removable clamp . Here’s what the factory one looks like https://smithy.com/products/steady-rest-for-granite?variant=32144506912833 Any thoughts on milling such a large dovetail with either my Clausing 8520 or Jet 15 Mill Drill. Edit : I did rough in the dovetail , put an 1/8” hole in the corner , plunged the rest with a end mill .

 

[Alcap]

Heres the progress on the dove tail . Trying two different bits one for the angle and one to finish the flat . Hope to finish it tomorrow

 

[Alcap]

A little more work one the rest . The center height was high so needed a pretty long end mill to remove some of the bottom .

 

[Alcap]

Got the steady rest all welded up today. It’s still going to need some clean-up work , the two lower screws can be now cut to length . I’m thinking some kind of jam nut to keep the screws from moving . Pictures are when I was setting the two lower threaded blocks in before welding them in place .

 

[Alcap]

Finished up the steady rest today . I painted it the other day with some silver paint that I had on hand . Today was clean paint off the sliding surfaces & clean the threads .

 

[woodchucker]

nice, I can't believe I missed this thread. Nicely done. I have to get back to mine. Having small lathes, we need every advantage we can get. The small spindle throats on small lathes demands a steady rest.