PeterE adapting a CES fixed steady to fit the C3 lathe

[PeterE]

As can be seen from my workshop pics I have a C3 lathe as the "big one". From time to time I have had to put prosjects on hold because I do not have a fixed steady - yet. So some time ago I started to scan the market of useful items.

I found that the original for the C3 (and other mini lathes) only have about 30 mm capacity, hmmmm. That really puts limitations on what can be done. More searching and I came across the Myford type fixed steady castings at CES. Looked really nice and provided quite a bit more capacity. As it turned out, the capacity is a little over twice what the original C3 steady can handle.

A purchase was made and after reading the drawing carefull I found that all the measures above the foot would work equally fine on a C3. The big difference is the foot. Not only did it have to accomodate the bed prism, and also the centerline of the opening in the bed is about 5 mm off center compared to the between centers centerline.

Slowly working ahead, I now have come to the last parts to trim the support fingers and make sure it does what I think it will.


BR

/Peter

[loply]

I will follow this thread with interest.

For what it's worth, the SIEG fixed steady has a capacity of about 37mm.

I'm literally just about to take a holesaw to mine in order to enlarge that to 43mm.

I did also think about getting a bigger one from a different lathe and adapting it... Look forward to seeing your result.

[PeterE]

This Myford type steady have a capacity of just over 60 mm! Nearly twice as much as the original C3 steady.

BR

/Peter

[spuddevans]

Neat project. I am keenly interested in seeing just how this goes as it could be handy on my mini lathe.


Tim

[loply]

PeterE, did you mind me asking how much this item was? Did you buy it brand new?

I would quite like 50mm capacity... hmm.

[PeterE]

I just set up a mock-up for using the steady to show how it looks on the machine. (Excuse the piles of swarf, but I am currently working on other bits.)


The support fingers are not completely done yet, but I think you can get the idea. The steady seems really ridgid and fits well onto the bed/machine.

This steady came as a set of castings from College Engineering Supply and cost me some 12-ish pounds at the time I think it was. Very good castings I might add, no hard spots or other suprises (other than my own bloobers of course  ) A really nice little project ending with a very useful piece of tooling.

BR

/Peter

[PeterE]

A short report along the way.

I have come to one of the final steps before being ready, and what do I find  One of the seats for the support fingers are out of angle  This means that the fingers does not meet nicely in the center as they should.

I think this is a result of my initial measuring out of the hole positions. I do not (yet) have a rotary table so I had to use a pair of dividers to step around the pitch circle. That went quite OK (I thought) but I forgot to check with a paper template made in the computer. It is very easy to make a triangle with a specific diameter and to cut it out to check. I did that now and realize that one of the three holes/seats are approximately 5 mm out of angle along the PCD.

So, now the misplaced hole is plugged with an epoxi-glued M7 piece of screw to allow a new hole to be drilled in the proper location. Following that, the seat will be re-milled to fit the support finger, and finally a small pad will be screwed and glued to fill up the distance towards the bottom of the seat.

Apart from this, the steady will work admirably! It fits like a glove on the bed and feels very ridgid. It has turned out exactly (well all right) as I anticipated and I think it will serve me well over time.

I did check the price again and it is around £16 at CES, see link below:
http://www.collegeengineering.co.uk/Castings/562.htm

BR

/Peter

[PekkaNF]

.... hole is plugged with an epoxi-glued M7 piece of screw ....BR/Peter

What? You have a french car? Only two places I see M7 thread are "metrificated" imperial drawings and some of bolts in Citroën. That M7 needs a little clarification...on the other hand I just bought 7/16 UNC 6" bolt.

Pekka

[PeterE]

He, he, no I do not have a French car 

The M7 tap and die were just parts of a tap and die set I bought a bunch of years ago, and incredibly enough I found use for it in this application. The hole is 6,3 mm (1/4") from the beginning so an M7x1 tap is perfect to make the threads without re-drilling the hole. 

BR

/Peter