Finally put my steady rest to use!

The steady rest is one of those big purchases I made getting my lathe ready. I saw at the time that they were hard to find so while shopping for parts I needed to refresh my lathe I kept an eye on accessories too. This is the first time I actually needed it a couple years later but I am glad I have it. I am working my way towards a special project I won't share just yet but somewhere I saw a deal on some 2 5/8 OD 1018 steel a couple of feet long and picked it up. You guys on the mainland have no idea how hard it can be to get material at reasonable prices but I digress.

It had a rough saw end at both ends so some cleanup was required at some point. Might as well do some operations on the far end of town!





I noticed that the tool needs to be gone through as one of the adjusters is really sticky and one of the brass fingers doesn't travel straight. I got lucky that the adjuster was jamming right about where I needed to set it! It kind of twists in its travel too and I'm sure that's not right. She still got the job done though so I was glad for that.





It's great when it all comes together but I should have reset my compound angle to where I usually keep it but it was still in the milling attachment position! So messing with the tailstock was a chore.

very cool! Steadies are one of those things you may not need often, but when you need one you can't do the job without it.

I used mine for the first time a few weeks ago making a thrust washer for a Jacobs 18N chuck. The 3" stock only just cleared the steady

Kevin T said:

one of the adjusters is really sticky and one of the brass fingers doesn't travel straight. I got lucky that the adjuster was jamming right about where I needed to set it! It kind of twists in its travel too and I'm sure that's not right.

Click to expand...

Tried adjusting the brass thumb screws? They have dog points and are used to lock down the fingers. The also serve the purpose of stopping them from rotating. If they get backed out too far the fingers will go out of index.

The telescoping steadies are called such because the fingers and adjusting knobs have counter-rotating threads and nestle inside one another similar to a telescope. Backing the adjustment all the way off detaches the knob and it's finger as a unit, which then thread apart in the opposite direction. The snap-rings around the knobs are springs that apply pressure to friction dogs on the knob threads - don't lose those dogs accidentally.

Aftermarket cartridge ball-bearing fingers are also available on E-bay as an option.

Just a Sparky said:

Tried adjusting the brass thumb screws? They have dog points and are used to lock down the fingers. The also serve the purpose of stopping them from rotating. If they get backed out too far the fingers will go out of index.

The telescoping steadies are called such because the fingers and adjusting knobs have counter-rotating threads and nestle inside one another similar to a telescope. Backing the adjustment all the way off detaches the knob and it's finger as a unit, which then thread apart in the opposite direction. The snap-rings around the knobs are springs that apply pressure to friction dogs on the knob threads - don't lose those dogs accidentally.

Aftermarket cartridge ball-bearing fingers are also available on E-bay as an option.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I am going to go through these and see what is going on. Such a great tool for a long bed lathe!