Steady Rest Opinion

[LJP]

My next project is a steady rest, needed for my next project.
I see a lot of steadies (most) with brass or bronze rub surfaces, not as many with bearings. To my way of thinking the bearings are the way to go.
What are the advantaged of either?
Thanks, Larry

 

[RandyM]

Sounds like a nice project. The obvious advantages are the brass will be cheaper to do and the bearings provide less frictional resistance.

 

[Bill Gruby]

Sounds like a nice project. The obvious advantages are the brass will be cheaper to do and the bearings provide less frictional resistance.

If set correctly you can use one with bearings on a finished OD, no mark that can't be buffed out, will be left on the part. You can't normally do that with brass.

"Billy G"

 

[george wilson]

Brass will be o.k.. The trouble with ball bearings on a steady is chips can be rolled under a rotating bearing,and squashed against the surface of your project. I have not have that happen. It depends upon how many chips are being thrown about by the work you're doing. The old way of making a mark free surface with fixed steady fingers is to take a piece of cardboard from the back of a writing tablet. Cut a strip. This goes around your work,and the ends of the strip are clamped in the joint of the steady rest where it is closed up. Then,oil is put plentifully on the cardboard. This works quite well,and the cardboard isn't worn out by the relatively brief amount of work that using a steady entails.

 

[Jimsehr]

Ball bearings are cheap on ebay. I have made a steady out of 1/2 plate alum and it works fine but do as George says and make a chip shield out of cardboard if you have to.
jimsehr

 

[ranch23]

My steady rest has ball bearings. I'm still not satisfied. I have made a couple of sets of "rollers" out of UHMW. They didn't exactly pan out, maybe I need a set of UHMW, or other material, wrapped bearings. If I am hijacking your thread please say so, that is not my intention, my thoughts just seemed like a logical extension of your question.

 

[george wilson]

You do not state WHY you are still not satisfied. Be specific. I had a heavy 19" swing lathe at work that used bearings on the steady rest. It's bearings had somewhat rounded surfaces on their outer races,to make it not possible for a slightly misaligned bearing to roll its edge against the work. I'm not saying this is necessary,just mentioning it. Personally,I'd prefer to use brass or bronze fingers,and use the cardboard strip as needed on finished surfaces. I have done that,and it worked well. got the idea from Ian Fleming's book "The Amateur's Workshop". Everything was Myford in his book. There were some good tips I learned when I was young. I used to correspond with him. He had writing that looked like engraving even at his advanced age.

 

[LJP]

No worries of hijacking here, I welcome all thoughts on the subject!

 

[Hawkeye]

When I needed a steady for my Hercus AR (SB9A), I made a cat-head type. My previous attempt was to finish one that the lathe's previous owner had started using Harley valve lifters as the rollers. They had left a 'cold-rolled' finish on the work piece that was hard to clean up. As you can see, the rollers on this one don't run on the work piece, so no marks.


It takes a bit longer to set up, since you need to get the cat-head barrel parallel to the lathe axis, but it can be used on square or irregular stock.

 

[Ray C]

I've got a nice home-made steady rest that I'm looking to sell. I'll post pictures as soon as my AT&T iPhone service decides to deliver the photos I just email to myself... The rest is fairly nice, fully adjustable and I used it on my old 10" lathe only a handful of times...


Ray