Steady / Follow rest improvements

Roller bearing improvements to steady and follow rest. Upon purchasing my HF 8 x 12 lathe I found that I did not like the way in which the standard steady and follow rest were made. A standard steady and follow rest rely on bronze holders to rub against the material being turned. When metals rub together, something will get marred, scratched, excessive heat build up, and generally damaged materials. My first thought was,” Why doesn’t this thing have roller bearings?” I guess the reason is cost. In response I decided to install my own bearing improvements. The first challenge was to reduce the working area as little as possible, while maintaining strength.
For this improvement I used bearing from fidget spinners that I purchased from the bargain bin after Christmas. The list of materials is as follows; (3) 3/8 x 1.71 x 1” nylon spacers, (5) 10-32 x 1 1/2” screws, (15) #10 washers, (5) 10-32 nuts, 6” of 1 1/2” shrink tubing, (5) bearings. I also used a 5/16 x 4” bolt with 5 nuts in order to hold the bearings separated while applying the heat shrink tubing.
After mounting the bearings on a 5/16” bolt with spacer nuts slide on a 6” length of shrink tubing and heat it with a heat gun to shrink it. Cut the shrunk tubing between the bearings, and reheat the edges in order to allow the tubing to wrap around the edges of the bearings. I chose to use shrink tubing around the bearings to add a softer surface between bearing and work material.
The nylon spacers were turned down and cut to length on the lathe so that they would be a bushing between the bolt and the bearing. Tap each of the five nylon bushings to a 10-32 thread.
Disassemble the steady and follow rest and drill and tap the bronze fingers to a 10-32 thread. Mark and center punch the location for drilling by placing the bearing as close to the front edge while not drilling too close to the inner web of the fingers.
Assembly= screw, washer, bushing, bearing, (2) washers, and nut. After assembling this measure and cut the length of the screw so that it does not extend past the outer side of the bronze finger. I have included pictures for reference ( not in order ).
Use a 9/16” end mill to mill out one side of the bolt head of the bolt which holds the finger in place. This will allow the finger and bearing to retract as much as possible. Install bearing and stud to the outside edge of the bronze finger. If done correctly the bearing should not bind and it will roll freely. In the event that you need the extra distance, the bearing stud can be easily removed. Good luck, Hoss. Sorry not all pictured download correctly.

In discussions on various Lathe forums it was generally agreed that roller bearings collect to much swarf.

The preferred rest is the brass/bronze holders.

Nice project I am sure you will enjoy it. I need to build a steady rest for my 12x36 Lathe and figured I would do both types of holders.

Ralph

Ralph

Bearings are chosen when potential RPM's elevate. Large diameters can over-speed them. Larger bearings take room. Even small bearings can be too big on small shafts. The posts need nicely matched bores and keyways to insure bearings run parallel to workpiece.
Bronze, though they need scrutiny have a bit more than line contact and zero clearance; they will not run with all materials or surface conditions.

All said and done, you are best off equipped with both.

Having both is the reason for this design. The bearing s stud can be easily removed when not needed, the closed bearings will help keep out swarf, and the cover on the bearings will not damage the surface of work being turned. Options are important.

Most times during machining operations follow rests are actually set up so they precede the tool and the turning operation just removes any marks left on the work piece.
For use with a fixed steady, good planning ahead will include leaving the area the steady will be located at a larger diameter that is turned off once the job is near completion, again removing any rub marks.