Heavy 10 steady rest

[VTX-]

I have a well tooled South Bend heavy 10, Been looking for a reasonably priced steady rest for some time now. When I got this lathe about 15 years ago "Tools for Cheap" had a reproduction he was importing that seemed reasonable. I am not opposed to making one from scratch, but I am looking for some ideas, maybe one that can be adapted to my bed from another machine, or a similar version of the old Tools for cheep that can be adapted. Any suggestions? Or should I just spend the $4-500 on ebay, funny thing is they where only $250 on ebay when I got the lathe

 

[SLK001]

I'd be inclined to make one from scratch. The factory steady for the 10L only has a 2.5" capacity (I found this out when I needed to support a 3.25" bar of cast iron in the lathe). It's a real bummer when you need to support something 4 or 5" (or more) in diameter. Making a steady with a 6+" capacity is on my to-do list.

 

[jim rozen]

Other option: try to locate some other brand of steady (larger than the stock SB one for a 10L) and machine the base (or fab a riser...) to fit it to your machine. As long as the base is suitable to machining to the flat and V way distance on the lathe, it will work fine. There's a small but steady stream of "what the heck is this steady rest for" posts on this forum. Possible fodder for the cannon....

 

[M.B. Naegle]

Keep an eye out of Logan 10" steadies too. The only difference is that the flat and V ways are on opposite sides as South Bend (just flip it around), but otherwise they bolt right on with zero modification.

 

[animal12]

Theres always one of these
Steady Rest (MLA-9)
animal

 

[Larry S]

Heavy 10 Steady Rest from MLA

Theres always one of these
Steady Rest (MLA-9)
animal

I made one of these for my 60's model heavy 10 on a Cabinet Base.
It works well.
It's designed for a 9" lathe so I had to cut some of the base off and add a wider
piece of bar stock,1/2" th. x 1 1/2" wide, and milled the 90 deg. V-Groove to fit
the bed.
The only draw back is that the Rest doesn't have a hinged opening.

Larry S

 

[VTX-]

If I could find a decent priced steady from another machine, I would adapt the base for my 10L bed, trouble is finding one the rite price. I sketched one up last night, Have access to piece of 6"OD 1" wall pipe, was aiming for a 4" capacity, this will probably be the best bet

 

[MilGunsmith]

Digging thru my stuff, I think I may have an extra Heavy 10 steady rest. In comparing it to my 9A steady rest, it has a higher center and the way grooves are wider apart. It is definitely for a 10" lathe. I will try to post a picture.

 

[VTX-]

Cool, send me a message if you want to sell it

[email protected]