Has anyone made a shop built steady rest?

[HMF]

Hi Guys,


Has anyone crafted a shop made steady rest for their lathe?

 

[Tony Wells]

I need to build one, how's that, Nelson? LOL

Back in 1975, our class built a rest for a L & S 32" lathe that McEvoy ran. It had roughly S shaped arms that pivot in the middle and hydraulic cylinders to close them. It was self-centering. I wish I had some drawings or pictures of it. It was a nice project, and the students made a few bucks off it.

Seems like I ran across a set of plans for one recently. I'll dig around. It's not too difficult to design one.

 

[terry_g]

I built this one from a slice off an old 6" hydraulic cylinder and some bits and pieces that I had lying around.
I needed one to make a drive shaft. I only used it once but it worked very well.

Terry

 

[lrudd]

Nelson,
Here is one I made and it works very well, but one must not allow chips to get in the path of the rollers.
Larry

 

[Tony Wells]

Take a plastic lid from a coffee can or such (Tuperware??). Put a hole in it to stretch just a little over the workpiece and slide it down right near the rollers and it will keep the chips out.