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Help with steady rest on baluster

Hi Bill

Stock used is usually square or close to it, now if you take a piece of steel pipe that's able to slide on there, you'll need a stove bold with a nut for each side on both ends. So after drilling and tapping 8 holes, (4 on each side) slide the pipe on, install the bolds with the nut already on it, now adjust the bolts until the pipe is centered, then use the nut as a lock nut to prevent the bolts from moving, place the steady and start turning. The problem with what the other Leo is suggesting is that every piece of lumber used, has to be the exact same of the one used to make the shims, and the problem with the one I suggest is it is time consuming, for you will have to centre the pipe every time, but they can work, being able to turn without these "crutches" would be the best way, but I digress.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

trying to envision this assist; is this made with three

Reply to
l.vanderloo
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That last part answers my question ... I couldn't see a way to make it stable (in a reasonable amount of time) with just three bolts total. 3 (or 4) on each end makes sense. Four actually makes more sense because, while three (on each end) makes sense only on round pieces, 4 can be used for round, square and rectangular.

Bill

Reply to
Bill in Detroit

Dave,

You have had many good suggestions. Here a quick and dirty one.

I came up with this idea after spending two days making a steady with ball races and sturdy enough to survive a nuclear explosion only to find that I had to use ear defenders because it made so much noise.

Turn your spindle blank to the largest diameter you can get out of the wood. Get a piece of 4"x2" scrap of wood and cut a V slot in the end. Measure the distance (take a wild guess) at the separation between the lower part of the spindle and the bed of your lathe and cut off a length of the 4"x2". If your guess is right you will have a block of wood which sits on the lathe bed with the V cradling the spindle. A second piece of the 4"x2" is cut to sit across the bed and the two screwed together. Clamp the second piece of wood to the lathe.

I must admit that cutting the V block to the right length is a bit of a long shot. So cut it short and put a slot in it for the fixing screw such that it can be adjusted up and down.

Cut a third piece of wood as a strap to go across the top at least 4"x2" and put a long wood screw in each side to clamp the spindle between the V block and the strap.

Sand the spindle with 60/80 grit where the rest will fit and apply a liberal amount of beeswax. Assemble the rest and marvel at the quietness.

You may wish to add some subtleties to the design. If you make the strap piece longer such that it sticks out towards you, then you can leave the inner clamp screw slightly loose and just rest your elbow on it when you are cutting to bring on the pressure.

I can take a picture of mine and send it to you if you want to give it a try. I can't post it for the group as my ISP doesn't support binaries.

BillR

Reply to
BillR

With thw spindle at rest, it's hard to tell if you are deflecting the stock, when setting the steadyrest. With part turning slow, I let the peice just spin the roller, with a little friction from my fingers on the roller.

Reply to
Rick Carusi

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@k78g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
dave_ipswich

A couple more ideas in addition to all the other excellent advice. I've turned some very long (30" by 3/4dia) spindles and have made them quite smooth:

If your steady rest is on an uncentered bit of wood, you're right, it will be bad before you start. Try making it close to round, then put on the steady rest, then turn another part round right adjacent to the steady rest, and repeat if necessary until it's smooth. Alternately, start near the tailstock, turn round until it starts whipping, then put the steady rest near the tailstock where it's smooth and concentric, and make your way toward the center.

Don't put your steady rest *exactly* in the center for the final turning, move it just a little to one side. if you're exactly at the center you can get the second mode of vibration which is twice the frequency of the primary whipping mode (the "jumprope" mode).

After you get the piece mounted, you can see what's about the right force for the tailstock by tightening and loosening the tailstock (just the tiniest amount) while it's spinning. Too much it will whip, too little it will be loose on the cone. A spring loaded cone can sometimes help in this instance.

Once it's roughly round, you can get a really smooth surface using a hand plan for cylinders and cones. Use one of the very low angle block planes that has a 5 or 10 degree blade, hold it as though you were going to plane from head to tail or from tail to head stock, and rotate just enough to bite off a super tiny shaving. If you do this with your other palm on the back of the spindle, pressing gently against the wood to keep it from whipping (DON"T wear gloves!!) you can get a long smooth surface that's like glass this way. Of course coves and such have to be done some other way.

Leave the smallest (1/2" dia, for example) cuts for last.

Reply to
Mark Fitzsimmons

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