8" light duty steady rest

[Frank S]

I've come up with a need to turn the OD and do some clean up on some tubes that are too long to fit between centers of my lablond 17x54.
And they are too large in diameter to fit in my little steady rest.
So time to build another slightly larger one. I started with a pair of 10ga rings 14" OD 12" ID for the sides of the body also this was the reason I needed to put my combo bender into good use. I rolled a piece of 1/4X 1 1/4 flat bar to make the curved segments for the inner and outer prts of the body
I used some old bed rail angle iron to make the guide sockets for the roller slides those are made out of 1" by 1/8" sq tubing and bearings that fit a riding lawnmower deck

The adjuster screws are 5/8-11 threaded rod

a little gold metallic paint because I had it handy
and now I have a 8" light duty steady rest.
I can later on change out the roller slides for something else with brass inserts and have a 10 or even 11" steady rest in just a few minutes.

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Steady Rest to our Machining category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Steady Rest by Frank S

tags: steady rest

[Frank S]

The new steady rest is working great.
I hoisted the 150lb tube onto the lathe got it all aligned up then turned the end closest to the chuck which had some plates welded to the spindle I torch cut them off but didn't bother to grind down the cuts so it was a rough hard interrupted cut for a while it didn't take too long to get under the cut offs down to good metal with a 3/4" cemented carbide cutter then changed out for an insert cutter now just have to make a light cut to remove the powder coat paint and true up the roundness of the pipe. I'll probably go ahead and grind some of the torch cut on the next pipe though, that way there won't be so much cutting to get under the weld and less time in an interrupted cut situation.

[ncollar]

Frank
I am going to start by apologizing but I gotta say it. There is nothing light duty when holding and turning anything that large. I must say you have the odds in your favor. Speed and feed must be rather low and slow. I must say beauty is not all it's cracked up to be.
I like your build and usually do. Always interesting.
Nelson

[Frank S]

Frank
I am going to start by apologizing but I gotta say it. There is nothing light duty when holding and turning anything that large. I must say you have the odds in your favor. Speed and feed must be rather low and slow. I must say beauty is not all it's cracked up to be.
I like your build and usually do. Always interesting.
Nelson

considering the steady weighs about 1/4 to 1/3 of what a factory steady of the same size would weigh. I'll keep calling it light duty. It is stable and robust enough for turning something hollow but I wouldn't trust it for a solid shaft of that size at least not the way I generally turn things. Which is to set the RPM, depth of cut and feed rate just to the point where I can notice the motor beginning to bog then back off the feed 1selection.
Since these tubes are going to be a plate roll their surface finish need not be hydraulic cylinder quality the just needed to be round. the lathe was in the lowest speed on the high side around 500 to 525 rpm the feed rate of .015" with a depth of cut at around .020" plus the layer of powder coating I imagine it was near .020" in itself.
The first tube I neglected to grind down the torch cuts before chucking it in the lathe so I had to run at the lowest RPM the lathe has or around 150RPM with a .200" depth of cut and a .005" on the feed until I got past the interrupted cut then I let it hog through at .300" and .015" until I got it down to about 2.600" then I reduced the depth for the final and dropped the feed to .005 at 750RPM 2 steps away from the highest RPM the lathe will do which is 1200RPM Nary a note from the steady rest.