# Steady rest for my 7X lathe



## homebrewed (Jun 12, 2020)

I finished this yesterday:



It works fine for Acetal and aluminum.  I haven't tried it on steel yet.  The fingers have 1/2" ball bearings on the tip.  Base and vertical piece:  6061 aluminum.  The photo also shows the riser block I made to replace the wussy compound, and the post mounted on it is for my Norman-style QCTP I made (these were earlier projects for the lathe).  Almost all of the pieces for the steady rest were made on my benchtop mill.  IIRC, the only items made on the lathe were three spacers underneath the ball bearings so they would turn freely.  I did make one item on the lathe that was used as part of the machining setup on the mill (a post that was used as the pivot point while I milled the slots for the steady rest fingers).


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## benmychree (Jun 12, 2020)

By rights, I'd have thought that the fingers should have been on the other side to lessen overhang and flexure in the workpiece.


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## homebrewed (Jun 12, 2020)

benmychree said:


> By rights, I'd have thought that the fingers should have been on the other side to lessen overhang and flexure in the workpiece.


Understand.  I wanted to get as close to the work as possible so put them on the other side.  More experience will tell the tale.  

I didn't deliberately place the mounting screws symmetrically w/respect to the passthrough hole so I probably don't have the luxury of flipping the vertical piece around.  That may be included in the "MKII" version .

I also worried a bit about the clamp point on the base being offset from the load presented by the fingers but maybe that is relatively insignificant.


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## benmychree (Jun 12, 2020)

Yes, I do not think that the clamp point is at all important.  The loads on a small steady rest are not at all high.


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