Oversized Steady Rest Clamping Plate?

[cathead]

Isn't what works the bottom line here??

 

[G-ManBart]

Isn't what works the bottom line here??

That wasn’t really the reason for the post, so no.

I can easily throw a hunk of steel on the mill and make a new plate, or grind away a bit from the current plates to make them work.

The question was just whether anybody has had to fit clamping plates that were the correct model for their lathe or not. Maybe they were commonly made oversized, or I just ran into an oddball...no idea, but figured someone might have seen something similar before.

 

[DavidR8]

I'm wondering if there was a change made to the bed casting at some point in the model history.
I've not heard of any one having to machine a retaining plate to fit their lathe.

 

[G-ManBart]

I'm wondering if there was a change made to the bed casting at some point in the model history.
I've not heard of any one having to machine a retaining plate to fit their lathe.

I took some quick measurements on the tailstock end of the bed of both lathes and they are very similar. The section under the inverted V way is 1" on both. The section under the flat way is 7/8" on the lathe the plates don't fit, and 3/4" on the one they will fit on. Honestly, the castings look pretty much the same, and the lathes are only a couple of thousand serial numbers apart (not that changes couldn't have happened). The area where the plates fit is clearly a machined area and it's almost like they just didn't open up the one lathe quite as much as the other.

I'm going to take some gap measurements on both and then look at the tailstock mounting plates as well. I've very interested to see what the tailstock mounting plate on the lathe they won't fit on looks like...any evidence of having been machined, or touched with a grinder.

Clearly none of this is a problem, but it's just one of those things I have to dig into because it's interesting.

 

[Braeden P]

I'm also eye balling that power hammer I could take it off your hands for free!

 

[G-ManBart]

I'm also eye balling that power hammer I could take it off your hands for free!

I've gotten that offer a few times now

I looked for a couple of years and managed to get two within a week or ten days apart. I restored the Mayer (same family that started Little Giant) and sold it to a buddy who lives nearby. Going off memory they only used those markings from 1919 to 1921 or so, and it was still all original, and tight. The LG was actually shipped in 1944, not 1941 as I said above. I bought it about 15 minutes from the town it was shipped to, so it never went far. Right after I got the LG home I snapped a pic before starting work...

 

[hman]

@Braeden P - I assume this is your strategy for getting a "bigger hammer"