Simple Shop Made Steady Rest

My son Glenn accuses me of doing things, HOWEVER (Notice that is a big However), without posting. So here is what I have been doing the last day and a half (Besides going to the Dr., having a Latte with Myrna, going out to dinner, cleaning the spa, repairing the broken sprinkler, etc.).

I needed a steady rest. I looked thru the books and mags. I found one that looked simple, not something for show. The following is how the story unrolled.

The one I chose had the following advantages:
It was a convenient size and would be easy to store.
It was basically made of three-quarter inch plywood.

The disadvantages were:
It required a lot of bandsaw or scrollsaw work.
It had lots of corners and curves that would have to be sanded.
To make it would require more time than something simpler.

What I did:
I eliminated all of the cutouts and nice looking curved design factors.
I did stay with the book’s dimensions and materials for the “arms”, the size of the base and all the other important measurements.
I simplified the base from 5 pieces of wood to three.
I eliminated the mortise and tenon factor.

First I drew an outline of the unit shown in the book...sort of like drawing an irregular box around a bunch of circles and arcs. I cut the outline out on the BS (other tools would have worked just as well).

Then I placed a nice pointy drive in the lathe headstock,
Pic #1

I held my plywood board in it’s proper location on the ways and banged it with my fist. This left a nice hole in the ply at the center of turning rotation.
Pic #2

All of the other dimensions were made from this reference Point (pardon the pun) because the turning has to clear the ply and the wheels have to hold the turning so it rotates around the point. The pic shows the roughed out plywood piece the way that it will sit on the ways.
Pic #3

The next picture shows that you need to think when you are using dimensions from a plan, magazine, book or whatever. It is a little difficult to tell from the photo, however, with the arms closed in as far as they will go, the smallest wood they will hold in place is two inches in diameter. I didn’t catch that and made the arms in the pic (the size specified in the drawing). Well I got to make another set of arms---each one an inch longer than specified on the drawing. Do Not completely trust dimensions in a drawing---Think while you work---I didn’t and had the opportunity to do some extra woodworking.
Pic #4

The system for holding the arms consists of three knobs (or whatever) to tighten the arms in place, and three “guide” pins to keep the arms from moving in undesired ways. I used six 1 / 4 x 20 inserts. Three of these were used for a place for the knobs to tighten into...Three were to hold the 1 / 4 x 20 threaded guide pins.

The guide pins were made by cutting the head off of stove bolts---see pic. The reason for the nut in the picture is my father. When I was a very young kid, dad told me to always put a nut on any threaded device that I was going to shorten. That way after cutting it off, I could run the nut off clearing the threads of burrs, etc. I chose bolts that had a smooth collar below the head and the cut off the other end to the desired length.
Pic #5

The next pic shows the ply with the three inserts for the guides with one guide temporarily screwed into place.
Pic #6
Pic #7

The pic after that shows inserting the insert using the drill press for a nice “true to the world” insertion of the insert. When I was a kid there was a very famous comedian named Bob Hope (I met him once). In one of Bob’s movies his character’s name was Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence. The character said that was his name because his mother didn’t have any imagination.
Pic #8

The insertion tool is a sawed off, cheap screwdriver ground to fit the slot in the insert. By using the drill press I could put steady, very firm down pressure with my right hand while turning the chuck slowly with my left hand. This makes a very neat, true insertion and does not raise any of the surface wood (DAMHIKT). Guess why I made the custom screwdriver for this kind of job.

The pic of the, just begun, steady rest with the “hold down” block is a picture of my measuring stupidity. The crosspiece that goes under the lathe rails fits beautifully---unless you want to move it over a few inches. It is too long to go between the rail braces so be careful where you measure for yours. You now know why I can’t get too ticked off about the wrong measurement in the book drawing that I worked from.
Pic #9

In my case there is a 5-inch, 5 / 16 diameter bolt which goes thru the steady rest, between the rails, through the anti-rotation block, through the cross-piece hold down and into a Tee Nut. Now you know why there was a notch cut in the plywood...so a socket or spin-tight wrench can lock the unit into the desired place on the lathe and the bolt head would not impinge on the space for the turning wood.

And, at last, we have the finished (but not yet finished) steady rest on the lathe. Notice the little block between the ways. The block is screwed to the bottom of the steady rest and prevents rotation. It goes across the entire base. The block is a close, however, loose fit between the ways. Close so it won’t move, loose so it isn’t a pain to place in position.
Pic #10

The nylon wheels will go closer together than shown in the photo. They can actually touch each other and that is a lot better than having the turned piece be at least two inches in diameter at the steady rest.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
Last edited:
You made it look so simple! :doh: Why hasn't it gone so smooth for me??:dunno::huh: Wanna sell one???? :eek: Okay son, where is the post telling dear old dad how good he done??? :huh:;):rolleyes: That looks like a top notch rest, the cuts are spot on, construction of high quality! :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
My son Glenn accuses me of doing things, HOWEVER (Notice that is a big However), without posting.

Thanks Glenn for getting Jim to post.:thumb:

So here is what I have been doing the last day and a half (Besides going to the Dr., having a Latte with Myrna, going out to dinner, cleaning the spa, repairing the broken sprinkler, etc.).:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Jim you should have your own blog, i think it would be a real hit. I just love your sense of humor.

Jig is so cool and you have added another project to my long growing list. Dont quiet know yet what i would do with it but its such a cool looking jig to make. Main thing is it looks real and is made of on hand material for the most part. Not like the perfect looking fancy schmancy pictures in the magazines.

Man you Bradleys are a huge asset to have around on the forum.:thumb: Please post more often Jim its not entertaining its educational and useful.;)

Now you just have to show us what you gonna use it for.:)
 
That is a nice one. I've been pondering a steady rest, but I was getting too carried away. This could be made in an evening and probably work for anything I would need. Thanks for posting.
 
Okay son, where is the post telling dear old dad how good he done???

I rarely wander over here to the spinny side of the street. I've heard the pull of the vortex is strong. I already lost my father to it so I stay back from the edge :rofl:

Great job dad! Do all fixtures that help folks make round things come flat?
 
I saw one that a members of our club made, that I thought was pretty cool. It uses old roller blade wheels. It was a bit big but it did look quite stable.
 

Attachments

  • Guild meeting May 120 - Copy.JPG
    Guild meeting May 120 - Copy.JPG
    116.8 KB · Views: 23
Now I understand from whom Glenn learned so many things, He's been drinking from the knowledge fountain from the crib!:thumb:

Thanks a lot for posting it Jim, I'm no turner but if any time I become one or need a steady rest I know that I'll come back to this post.

So please, post more, Glenn is right when he pushes you to post, don't let him carry all the load;)
 
I saw one that a members of our club made, that I thought was pretty cool. It uses old roller blade wheels. It was a bit big but it did look quite stable.

I saw that post quite some time ago. It really looked like a good thing.

If I were turning wood of significant size I would want roller blade wheels also.

The bigger the wheel size, the larger the size of the minimum turning diameter because the wheels run into each other. There is a fair sized "hole" left when the wheels are brought together. This hole may be bigger than the project you are trying to turn.

I did not find any "quality" wheels in the one-inch diameter size. What I found were made for sliding windows, shower doors, etc. Harbor Freight has a good selection of casters. I considered buying casters and removing the wheels. Depending on what you are turning this could be a blessing or a curse.

The blessing is a good wheel with good bearings.

The curse is wide wheels will exert different pressure on the wood from different parts of the wheels. Example: You turned a three inch cove. Your steady rest wheels are one-inch wide. In this sample only the outer edge of the wheels will touch the wood (and make dents?).

The roller blade wheels are not flat across the "tire" so they would not have the problem mentioned in my example. The narrow, sliding window wheels, would probably work well in the forementioned cove. However, the wheel quality is far less than the roller blade wheels.

The main things that have to be considered in a steady rest are:
You need an opening large enough for your wood.
You need a base that will fit the ways on your lathe.
You need a way so the unit cannot get out of alignment...have to stay 90* to the bed.
You need a way to fasten it down.
It would be really nice if the unit was not difficult to reposition. Mine was designed so a socket wrench would tighten the unit. If the wood was really large in relation to the opening, a flat wrench could be used. My initial cross piece, to hold the steady rest was great until I tried to place the rest in a different position. There was part of a casting in the way. I had to shorten the cross piece.
It would be nice if the unit was easy to store when not in use.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
Last edited:
I just went out today and picked up a set of roller blades from our local thrift store for 2.50. Now I have 8 wheels to play with. I did get little kids roller blades so the wheels are smaller than regular blades as I did think of the size issue and looked for the smallest I could find. They have good bearings though.

I liked the initial design of the steady rest of the club member but I thought about the close circle as being an issue as it is pretty big and then I got to think at what size do you really need a steady rest for? If you are turning stock that is larger than 3 inches on a "normal" sized lathe would you really need a steady rest? maybe for 1 1/2 inch stock that is more than 12 inches long ? I remember turning 1 1/2 inch chair spindles back in school ( ummmm over 20 yrs ago) with no steady rest. and they were a good 40" long.

here is another one from the club that I thought was just too fussy to set up.
 

Attachments

  • Guild meeting May 114 - Copy.JPG
    Guild meeting May 114 - Copy.JPG
    125 KB · Views: 30
I just went out today and picked up a set of roller blades from our local thrift store for 2.50. Now I have 8 wheels to play with. I did get little kids roller blades so the wheels are smaller than regular blades as I did think of the size issue and looked for the smallest I could find. They have good bearings though.

I liked the initial design of the steady rest of the club member but I thought about the close circle as being an issue as it is pretty big and then I got to think at what size do you really need a steady rest for? If you are turning stock that is larger than 3 inches on a "normal" sized lathe would you really need a steady rest? maybe for 1 1/2 inch stock that is more than 12 inches long ? I remember turning 1 1/2 inch chair spindles back in school ( ummmm over 20 yrs ago) with no steady rest. and they were a good 40" long.

here is another one from the club that I thought was just too fussy to set up.

believe it or not, I were working on a idea for a steady rest similar to this but not quite this good
 
Update on my Steady Rest

First of all---It works fine.
I was worried about the inexpensive wheels. They continue to work perfectly.

Downside of the unit: It is a bit cumberson to put on the lathe and it is also a bit of an aggrevation to change its position. I have come up with three improvements to, hopefully, corret these problems.

I am making a new unit to prove that the improvemnets work in the real world as well as in my head. I will take lots of pics this time.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
Top