Centre Height

taycat

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My lathe is one of Chinese clones and very limited in bits I can get.
And what I can is expensive.
Have sorted out more chucks but want steady.
They list centre for x centre height.
Do I measure from centre of channel in bed to centre of Chuck or from the way to Chuck centre.

Sorry for so many questions.
 
The swing of your lathe is typically measured from the center of the chuck to the top of the vee on the lathe bed times 2. In other words a 12" swing lathe would measure approximately 6" from the center to the vee. Maybe you can give us a little more info as to what the supplier is asking. It looks like you want a steady rest. Are you trying to just find a steady that will fit or are you actually ordering from the manufacture of the lathe.? Center height in this case may be from the tops of the vee's or from the top of the saddle. What brand and model of lathe do you have? Lots of folks here can help you with this if we have more information.

Darrell
 
Its a clarke cl 430 .
To buy their own is 60UK pounds have seen others on e bay for less than half that.
Its a steady rest I want as got some long bits to do.
Just reread post and wrote centre x centre by.
Sorry should have read steady x centre by.
Thanks
 
I see that Machine Mart lists one for £47.98.

Also tool-net.co.uk has it.

No one says what size it is though.
 
O.K. did a little search. Spec calls for 305mm swing so lets call it 12". You need a steady for a 12" lathe but there are 2 more things you have to figure in sourcing a steady. Bed width and style. Some lathes have 2 vees. some 1 vee and 1 flat for example and the distance between the vee's differ. You can machine a adapter block that fits between the lathe bed and steady to use lots of different ones. My best suggestion is if you can find some one local that has a 12" Asian lathe that you could measure there steady. Other option involves accurately measuring your bed and then asking ebay seller to measure theirs. First I would just put up a post in the machinery section here and ask if anyone has a Clarke like yours. If some one does I am sure they would help you. From what I saw searching your lathe it may be something like a Harbor Freight. If you have a Harbor Freight or Princess Auto or Busy Bee in Canada near you I would go look at one.
And while I was slowly typing I see Tony gave you some ideas.

Good luck
Darrell
 
If your lathe is like the picture, both ways are flat. You can get a measurement across the flats (outside to outside) and verify fit that way. Then it is center height as Darrell gave. A smaller rest could be adapted, provided you have some material and a mill. A larger one sometimes can be modified, but I wouldn't count on it.

As I understand it, in the UK, swing is measured as center height, whereas here we use max diameter the machine can swing over the ways, and sometimes add the max over cross slide diameter, since it is obviously smaller than over the ways.
 
if boring a hole on center or slightly above if turning an od or slightly below its a toolbit clearance issue. if above center on an od then you will be rubbing below the cutting edge if below center on a bore then you will be dragging the cutter on the hole bill
 
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