steady rest for tall segment vessels

martyn

martyn

PRO Member
i haven't seen any references to steady rests on the site so that y I've posted this.

I am currently working on a open segmented vase and have just glued the two halves together an tried to turn the top but getting a lot of vibration, i new i needed a steady rest and i could find one to buy in the uk so i built one out of birch ply and roller blade wheel.Any comments questions or feed back is welcome, or if any one else has made one they could share too

steady 2.jpg

steady.jpg
 
I like your design. It looks very solid and stable and I'm guessing cost less than the $500US Carter wants for the one they sell. I have one made by gluing up a couple six sided segments rings then gluing them together like a bowl blank. It does the job but just barely. Do you find the roller blade wheels leave marks that have to be cleaned up? Someone posted about softer wheels but I lost the link.

Thanks for posting.
 
stuart johnson said:
I like your design. It looks very solid and stable and I'm guessing cost less than the $500US Carter wants for the one they sell. I have one made by gluing up a couple six sided segments rings then gluing them together like a bowl blank. It does the job but just barely. Do you find the roller blade wheels leave marks that have to be cleaned up? Someone posted about softer wheels but I lost the link.

Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...

hi stuart
YES it was a lot cheaper than that, i just finished turning that vase in the photos just now using the rest for the first time and it was great, i had some really bad catches to where the lathe came to a complete stop and i think if that steady wasn't there i would have lost that vase for sure, yes the roller blade wheel leave a mark but its no biggie it just sands off quite easily. Would softer wheel give you the support you need, the wheel don't dent the work its just rubber marks that all, i am really happy with the job it did, i might even paint the rest to finish it off. wouldn't mind seeing your rest any pictures?
 
I made one similar to yours about 5-6 years ago and it has served me well. Mine uses only 3 wheels because it is the side you cut on that needs the support. I also mounted the skateboard wheels on 1/4" x 2" aluminum stock. Attached are a couple of images.
P1000924.jpgP1000925.jpg
 
Yes metal arms like yours wood be better, but I wouldn't know how to go about
Machining metal , that one of yours looks great, do you use it a lot?
 
Martyn: I use it on almost every bowl while hollowing/turning the inside unless the bowl is very small. It stabilizes the bowl, eliminates vibration, and greatly reduces the sideways pressure on the base. Machining 6061T6 aluminum, which is the most common alloy and is available at Home Depot among other places, is pretty easy with woodworking tools, e.g., drill press, bandsaw or jig saw with metal cutting blades, and files. The aluminum I bought for this was a 1/4"x 2" x 4' piece, so I only had to cut it to length, drill some holes and file the slot, and file off the sharp edges.
 
I'm ashamed to show my poor imitation of a steady rest but it worked the few times I used it. It's sized for my Nova 3K but I will certainly build a better one for the Robust.steady rest.jpg

I just set it on the lathe with one arm clamped on to show how it's used.
 
wow i would have never have thought you could bandsaw aluminum, i may consider a up grade in the future cheer Brent for the heads up! Stuart if it works that the main thing i sometime tend to over make something on the fear it might explode in my face lol, the first open segmented bowl i made a couple of weeks ago terrified me turning it.
 
Nice job on the steady rest.I made on pretty much the same with 4 rollers.From Steven Ogle on U-tube.I went to Value Village ,a use goods for charity type story and got a pair of roller blades for 5 bucks. I have used a few times and it works well.I'll look for a finished pic of your vase,looks good in that pic.
Rob
 
hi rob thank for you kind words, the vase i complete, i posted it in the open segmented gallery. how you doing any new turnings?
 
I built a small one similar to Brent's for my midi lathe a couple years ago. Roller blade wheels were a little large for what I wanted so I found some bearings about the right size at my local farm supply store and used some red heat shrink tubing on the outside. Seems to work reasonably well and doesn't leave marks. Have to build a larger one now for my big lathe. Lee Valley had clear poly wheels on sale a while ago so I got some in anticipation of this. Figure the clear poly may not leave marks. Here's a link if anyone is interested in the clear wheels. http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=68825&cat=1,43455
 
If you are using free cutting ally you might be able to form the slots with a router, many many years ago i made a brass skeleton clock using my small router and plastic templates, i had to make a plastic plate for the router with a metal ring as a guide and a 1/8th hss slot drill and cut about 20thou per pass, cheers Dave
 
hi bob, your steady rest looks really strong and well made well done, that lathe looks a bit like mine what brand is it
 
martyn said:
hi bob, your steady rest looks really strong and well made well done, that lathe looks a bit like mine what brand is it
Click to expand...

The lathe is a Jet 1014. If you are interested I drew it up in aut-ocad and I could send it to you
 
Bob Beaupre said:
The lathe is a Jet 1014. If you are interested I drew it up in aut-ocad and I could send it to you
Click to expand...
thanks bob but i already made one mines at the top of the page i started the thread, in the end i purchased a metal one off eBay which is really good
 
I'm sure everyone thinks "their" steadyrest is the best. So I'll just continue the theme.... and state that mine is the best. I wanted one that was much more stable than the Robust one (it rattled all over the place). I also wanted one with the top clear so that I could use a Jamieson type hollowing system (which means no roller arm sticking up). I made a "U" shaped system with two moveable cross pieces with a total of four rollers. It was all made from extruded aluminum (80/20 1516 cross pieces and 80/20 1530 uprights) with their corner brackets and hardware. All on Ebay for a cost of about $200. It uses four rollerblade wheels and is rock steady. A friend and I have been trying to get time to put together a DIY article but it is pretty obvious on how to build by looking at the photos. Here are a few photos.P1010009.JPG steadyrest1.jpg steadyrest1.jpg P1010025.JPG steadyrest1.jpg
 
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