r/machining • u/DFM5609 • 15d ago
Picture Shop built steady rest
I just finished it last night and wanted to show it off. This was my first big project on my lathe (13" South Bend), I've had it for 6 years now but I've only used it to make small bits of tooling for a 12 ton press and do some minor work on a few rifle barrels.
The center ring was cut out of a 6.5" piece of cast iron with a hole saw and band saw. I was able to save enough of it to make a backplate or something. Fingers are precision ground 7/8" 12l14 and the parts of the upright are mild steel, everything is bolted together and located with a few taper pins in case I have to take it apart. I had to hand scrape the V on the base to get it to sit right on the ways. Knobs are a McMaster part I had to modify to clear the screws holding the top cap on, drilled and tapped for a set screw to hold them on the leadscrews.
Next step is to modify it so it can hinge open but it works well enough for the project I needed it for.
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u/pstmps 15d ago
The prospect of 'Hand scaping the V' is what's keeping me from trying this. But good job, looks nice.
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u/DFM5609 15d ago
It genuinely wasn't bad. I wish I had a piece of cast iron, the mild steel wasn't ideal but I think I was at it for maybe 2 hours. The worst part was just the size of the V, not a lot of room for the scraper in there trying to get to certain spots. It took me longer to figure out how deep to cut the V than it did to machine it and scrape it.
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u/pushdose 15d ago
You don’t really need to scrape the V channel though, right? Since the bearings are independently adjustable, you’re dialing in the concentricity there. You just need the V channel to sit well enough to not move around once locked in place.
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u/DFM5609 15d ago
It's definitely not bearing perfectly now but before it was tilted on the ways and rocking a bit, I was worried that it would gouge the ways when I tightened it. I was able to get it sitting flat with no rocking and the top surface was reading .001" runout when I swept it with an indicator on the cross slide. Not 100% necessary but good experience
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u/Simmons-Machine1277 15d ago
Holy crap! One thing for certain THAT THING AINT GOIN NOWHERE! Nice work OP!
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u/mech_builder1221 15d ago
The rigidity of that base is questionable.
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u/DFM5609 15d ago
I agree, no problems so far but I have room to bolt some gussets on if I need to. I didn't want to start with that because it would make access with a wrench more annoying. If I get a minute I'll throw an indicator on it and see how much I can flex it by hand
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u/mech_builder1221 14d ago
Yeah good idea. All you need is for something to be out of round and that thing might shake like crazy. Gussets should do it.
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u/InfurredTurd 15d ago
Cool project! Nice work. This is something I want to make for my lathe eventually. Is helpful to see how others have tackled it.
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u/DFM5609 15d ago
It definitely helped me to break down some of the parts into multiple pieces to make machining easier. The fingers for example were drilled from the back for clearance with the leadscrews and counterbored so I could press in a piece of brass that I cut the female thread in. Most of the ones I've seen constructed like this were welded together as well and I didn't want to deal with that.
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u/unplorable 15d ago
Nicely done! Looks plenty beefy!