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Steady Rest Rehab + a New Steady Rest Casting

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vtsteam:
Thanks Bob! :beer:

Fingers brazed on the tips:

vtsteam:
This is the steady rest done, with the ferrous parts finished.

I had originally planned to add tabs to the fingers like the Gingery steady rest has, and individual adjustment screws, but have since decided against that. I now think that screw adjustment isn't necessary, or even desirable.

Fingers on a steady should be adjusted to stock diameter via light contact pressure. That's difficult to determine with a screw adjuster, but quite easy with plain slides, as long as they are good fits in deep slide channels, and are well supported and fully locked by the retaining bolts. That's the situation with this new steady rest. You can feel them slide into proper position. It's also much faster to set up without adjuster screws.

This steady has deeper and longer channels for support than either the Gingery or the cast iron rests. It has larger work capacity (4" vs 3" and 2-3/4" respectively), Unlike the Gingery, it is hinged, and it has a base that keys to the ways, so it can be set up on a part near the headstock, and then slid out to it's working position while remaining parallel with the ways, and retaining it's working diameter.

Unlike both, it has brass contacts on the fingers, and no screw adjusters. It has a simpler and stronger casting than either of the other two,

The steel fingers on the new rest are longer than on the iron steady and the slot length and bolt locations allow more bearing when the fingers are extended to the fully closed position.

The Gingery rest's fingers are not slotted, and have less support, due to side-mounted retainer bolts and washers. That's mainly a result of assuming no milling facilities by builders for slotting. The adjustment screws on the Gingery rest are probably necessary to help retain the fingers against end forces.

So, now my new lathe has a new steady... I learned a lot about what I like in a steady rest by having two other examples to look at while making design decisions. Quite an enjoyable project in the end! I'm looking forward to using it for building the Ryder engine.

jiihoo:
Simple, functional and beautiful :clap:.

Thank you Steve for opening your thought processes about the design choices. That was very educational.

Jari

vtsteam:
Thanks Jari!  :beer:

Finally, in use:

RotarySMP:
That was a pretty loveless product that someone threw on the market. No effort to machine the casting to make it work well. I am sure you will make the foundry proud.


--- Quote from: vtsteam on March 23, 2022, 07:40:59 PM ---
I decided to try my oil furnace instead. Since it's insulated with refractory blanket, I figured the cool-down period might be slow enough if I covered the openings after the heat. In order to slow the heat up period, of reduce the risk of cracking, I decided to remove my oil burner and substitute my atmospheric propane burner -- originally intended as a brazing torch. It could do a slower heat up, and without all the noise of a blower ....I figured it would be up to the job.

--- End quote ---

For me it is the opposite. I think the Mig jet causes super sonic flow of the propane, cause the furnace is really loud on gas, but with a little 70w squirrel cage blower, it is pretty quiet on oil.

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