Making a steady rest

[Bill Gruby]

Darren -- Here is the break down of the parts in the order they are used.

[Bill Gruby]

This is the Steady Rest Finished

[Bill Gruby]

Mayhem;

Is the print enough or do you need to know how each part relates to the other?

"Billy G"

[Mayhem]

Thanks Bill.
Having not used one of these before I'd appreciate it if you could say how they relate to each other.

[Bill Gruby]

(06-18-2012, 05:33 PM)Mayhem Wrote: Thanks Bill.
Having not used one of these before I'd appreciate it if you could say how they relate to each other.

Will do Mayhem. I will do it in the morning. Have to take the War Department out tonight.

"Billy G"

[Mayhem]

Thanks Bill,

Looking at it I am guessing E and G are fastened together (along with A and B), so that when the knob is turned, the all thread turns as well. L will have the mating internal thread and have a grove milled along its length to stop it spinning in I. Thus, turning A result in linear motion in L. How did I go?

I still would like to see some pics, especially to show the final relationship. Things like does the small diameter stub on B insert into D etc.

[Bill Gruby]

You da man. E&G are loctited together. It slips into A. The knob is added next. This assemble is slippen over the Barrel and held in place with three setscrews. The rest you have down pat.

"Billy G"

[DaveH]

(06-18-2012, 07:30 AM)Mayhem Wrote: OK, well seeing that Bill has joined us, I am going to ask for his help in detailing how to build telescopic fingers for my steady rest.

Bill has recently built one and did a fantastic job of detailing the build. He even posted a picture of the components and the order they go in. Unfortunately, I have been banned from the forum on which this was posted, so I can no longer go back and look at the pics and info.

Bill,
Any chance you could show your steady rest and the build log on here, I for one would luv to see it and I'm sure many of the members would.

(Sorry Mayhem for hijacking your thread)


DaveH

[Bill Gruby]

Yes Dave, I saved the file from the other site. Let me sort the pics and we can do it for you. Can you delete one of the double posts above for me. I'm still not quite used to this format and added one as a quote. Thanx.

"Billy G"

[Mayhem]

OK - had to put one project on hold, so I decided to get some work done on the steady rest, as I was sick of moving the bit around!

First step was to line up the three plates, clamp them together and then drill 4 holes for 3/16" roll pins. The plates and clamps weighed a bit, so I used one of my machinist jacks!

   
   

Pinned together to check alignment prior to cutting.

   

Outer plates pinned together and cut.

   

Inner plate cut - note this is now in 3 pieces, as the bottom section has a 12mm cut out, so that there was no need to drill a hole for the clamp bolt.

   

The mating faces were painted with cold galv and the parts were realigned and pinned ready for welding.

   

Spot welded both sides (that is what most of the holes were for) and now ready for the fingers. This won't happen for some time though.