Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs

Steady Rest Rehab + a New Steady Rest Casting

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vtsteam:
I found an old casting number on my steady rest, the number 16. I was kind of curious about what kind of lathe it was made for. So I did an image search and here's the closest match:

Four hundred and fifty bucks..... :jaw:    The ad also says "Quality Steady Rest" but doesn't actually mention what particular quality.......

Kjelle:
Yours didn't look like it was even roughly machined, just a raw casting... Could it have been sold as that, not to you, but some previous owner?

I sure would have given up on it, if I had bought it for my lathe, even as "half finished", as I might not have thought of anealing it...

Good job so far!

Kjelle

vtsteam:
Thanks Kjelle!  :beer:

I think it was sold originally as functional, not raw castings for machining. I also think it's quite old, judging by the style of the numerals in the "16". I just don't think it was made with much care -- as a guess, probably just a cheap included item in a lathe package, not probably sold as a standalone product.

It actually was somewhat "machined" -- on a belt sander for the fingers, and the bolt holes were drilled and tapped. But like the rest, that was not done very well. The topmost finger retaining hole is too high compared to the locations of the others, restricting how far that finger can move inwards.

Here are the new fingers, now slotted and the ends beveled on the mill.

vtsteam:
Brazing the tips of the fingers:

vtsteam:
Here's the steady rest painted and put back together. And as usual, one screw has gone missing. Well if I'm working on something complicated like rebuilding an engine, I usually wind up with one screw extra. I don't really understand the physics of that.  :smart:

I do like those square headed adjustment screws -- they look cool. I hope I find the missing one. But for practical reasons, I probably ought to replace them with straighter (and easier to turn) new bolts, or even wiser, with knurled headed knobs, because they really should be adjustable by hand, I think.

I would if I had a knurler, always meant to make one -- I even have the dies on-hand. But just one of those many projects for a future date.

Anyway, this one is ready to check off the list.

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