Steady rest wheels

[jmkasunich]

I must admit that I have almost zero experience with using a steady, but I gotta wonder about rollers vs sliding bronze or similar shoes. Yes, rollers are less likely to scratch the surface, but I can easily see them rolling a stray chip into the surface instead of pushing it aside.

 

[mikey]

I must admit that I have almost zero experience with using a steady, but I gotta wonder about rollers vs sliding bronze or similar shoes. Yes, rollers are less likely to scratch the surface, but I can easily see them rolling a stray chip into the surface instead of pushing it aside.

Actually, since both rollers or solid supports are in intimate contact with the work on three sides (assuming the user positions them correctly), chips cannot get under them; there is just no space or room for even small chips to get underneath. What rollers can do is steer and pull the work out of the chuck if the steady rest is not square to the bed of the lathe. This is a distinct possibility because steady rests are not precisely positioned. Personally, I have seen more marring from rollers than solid brass fingers but I'm sure this may not be everyone's experience.

 

[mksj]

I made my own fingers with roller bearings on my last lathe which had brass tipped fingers, I opted to get some oilite bushing that just fit over the bearings and I cut them to the same width as the bearing. So provided a softer interface. If it was a significant issue I would bore a collar to interface between the barrel and the rollers. My new lathe came with steel roller bearing on the fingers, I used the steady rest for boring some 3" diameter stock and did get some light marking. I need to see if I can fit some oilite bushing on them next time I need to use it. On these if I recall the bearing OD was something like 5/8" and the oilite bushing was 5/8" ID and 3/4" OD.

 

[Tozguy]

What if you wrapped the critical part of the barrel with self adhesive anti-friction tape and ran the rollers (or fingers) on the tape? Of course the tape would have to be wound flat and at an angle so the ends would not run under the rollers.
Something like this:

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[pontiac428]

I've used 10-mil pipe wrap tape because it is very uniform. I wouldn't try reaming a chamber with that setup, though. That's a .001 vs. a .0001 decrease in tolerance. Which is why I run solid bronze fingers and blast or sand the barrel before refinishing. I don't want to worry about sacrificing a decorative finish for precision. I'll get the precision first, then re-do the finish. Most gun finishes are easy once you are set up to do it, so it's really trivial to me.

 

[Tozguy]

The question as I see it is how to use a steady rest without upsetting the finish on a work piece. If we get into how to chamber and thread barrels with precision that is a whole different story.

 

[tq60]

We made some wind chimes from 1.25 ish tubing and needed to face the ends to look good as well as tune them.

Had a bearing that had an in just larger than the of of the tubing.

Bushed it with soda can and it worked well in steady.

You could Do same, locate a suitable ball bearing that has an id large enough to allow for a bushing to be made to support the work.

The bushing can have brass adjusting screws with nylon points or wrap stock with a barrier.

The screws both bold bearing in place but also adjust to center stock in bushing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[silverhawk]

For my wood lathe, I actually used a pair of Rollerblade wheels on fingers. Even with that setup, you still get a slightly different finish. When it comes to a barrel, it might be easier to get a larger lathe and chuck it through the spindle with a spider on the outboard end.

joe

 

[Jim F]

For my wood lathe, I actually used a pair of Rollerblade wheels on fingers. Even with that setup, you still get a slightly different finish. When it comes to a barrel, it might be easier to get a larger lathe and chuck it through the spindle with a spider on the outboard end.

joe

That is not an option right now.

 

[epanzella]

I have wheels and plain steel ends on my steadies. I don't see any advantage to wheels and they may be worse by picking up chips and driving them between the fingers and the work. IMO, the only 100% reliable way to protect a blued finish is a cats head.