Making a steady rest

[Mayhem]

My lathe was made around the turn of the 20th Century and never came with a steady rest. So I thought I would make one. Given that my lathe has an 18" swing over the bed, I decided to make a steady rest of suitable stature!

Rather than attempt to turn up the body, I decided to get it cut from 1/2" plate. My design calls for 3 plates. This allows the middle plate to be cut differently to the outer two, forming both the hinge point and also the bolt hole for the clamp bar. Additionally, this approach allows the base to be incorporated in the design.

The outer plates have a series of holes, whilst the middle plate does not. These holes will allow the outer plates to be welded to the inner plate. By using an odd number of plates, warping will be minimised.

Here is one of the outer plates and the inner plate:
   

At this stage I am thinking of changing my initial design of having the basic style fingers with roller bearings and going with telescopic ones. If I stick with the original idea, I will simply mill a slot for them to run in. If I go telescopic I will add some bolsters and then drill holes for them.