Free Standing/Outboard Tool Rest

Doug Miller

Member
Messages
277
Location
Hardinsburg, KY
I'm looking for pictures of various tool rests that are either free standing or mounted on the end of the lathe. Anyone, anything. I'm simply looking for ideas right now.
Thanks,
Doug
 
Doug, Bill Grumbine had a really well made outboard tool rest on his old Poolewood lathe, I'll see if I can dig up some pics.....

If it is free standing, it still needs to be tied to the lathe in some way.

Cheers!
 
Thanks guys. I have those in my stack of stuff. I continue to look for others. There was one I saw a few years ago and cannot find. I keep hoping that someone offers it up as a suggestion. However, I'm seeing more on the net that look good and might be a bit better than what I had in mind. So keep those pics coming. They are all helping with the design process.
 
AAW Site

There are some on the forum at the AAW website. You'll have to search for them since I don't have links handy. Vicmarc is supposed to make a good one that attaches to the lathe. I have seen pictures and it looks good to me. I have also seen home made ones that attach to the lathe that look fairly easy to make. As Stu said, I would not use one that did not anchor to the lathe. Jet/Powermatic make a freestanding rest, but I would be hesitant to use it.
 
I get the feeling that just talking about an unattached outboard tool rest is almost heretical :eek: but I'll jump in with an idea enneyhow.
On my list of 'to do' projects is an outboard stand, mebbe like this:
I will have welded to a steel plate a joist screw jack. On top would be a plate, or arm, to accept the actual rest. The jack would be welded to near the front edge of the plate. The rest of the plate is what I would stand on. Seems to me (here is where the dissenters will come in) the operators weight on the plate would stabilize the unit plenty enough for good turning.
OK, fire back. Wats wrong with this idea?
 
Thought I would throw this out there too. It might give you some ideas if you build one, or give you an idea of what to look for. I got this used from a shop teacher who needed more wood than an outboard rest. It is heavy enough that I cannot lift it, only slide it around the shop. The school had 3 Powermatic 4224 lathes and each one had an out board rest that had not been used in the two years since they got them. I used it on my older powermatic 90 to turn outboard (and backwards as no reverse or slow speed) Only used it for a large clockface turned from a slice of maple tree. Here's some cell phone photos of the rest, lathe, and the clock. You can see my Stubby in the background (tail stock on the floor) of shot 1. The powermatic is currently set up as a 12" sanding disk, but I have kept it so far because it does longer table legs than the Stubby. And the 3rd photo is the clock. Dots are purple heart. Clock is about 16" across at widest point. I did it several years ago and it seemed a lot bigger then.

Ken Easley
 

Attachments

  • PowermaticStand.jpg
    PowermaticStand.jpg
    41.3 KB · Views: 30
  • powermatic90.jpg
    powermatic90.jpg
    49.8 KB · Views: 24
  • clock.jpg
    clock.jpg
    44.2 KB · Views: 17
Top