To quote Dennis Miller, the following is my opinion and I could be wrong:
I made the following response in the newbie forum to a guy asking about steady-rests.
Steady rests are necessary when doing large work with chucks. I do hollow-forms up to 22"-dia and have never had a problem using a Oneway faceplate and no steadyrest. If I'm doing a smaller piece of 16" dia or less, I'll use the Oneway 4" - larger and I use their 6". I do about 20-pieces per year and have never had a problem.
I'll start with the log on a 1.5" spur drive on what is to be the top of the vessel - drilling a shallow hole with a 1.5" forstner is critical. Of course to get the piece on the lathe, a chain hoist is needed - some weigh 300-lbs or more. Crank down the tailstock and start knocking down the facets. I'll do the bottom profile and then turn the face-plate tenon. It's critical that this be flat and the same dia as the faceplate.
Position the faceplate on the tenon, mark one hole at 12-o'clock, drill with 11/64 for #14 SS sheet-metal screw - oval heads give a little more bite for the screwdriver - insert one screw. Then determine the rest of the holes with a SELF CENTERING DRILL GUIDE (available any hardware), remove the one screw holding the faceplate, and drill all hole with the 11/64 using a depth stop. I use two different screw lengths: 1.25 for the six inner holes, 1" (points ground off) for the twelve outer. The reason for the shorter screw is that the last cut before finishing is to cut under the 6" faceplate to achieve a 4" base - as the tenon is typically 1" long, I avoid unsightly filled holes near the bottom.
If this seems too much hassle, add one more step: after the rough has dried for up to a year, I'll put the dry and warped piece on the Kelton mandred just to true the surface for the faceplate. New holes are drilled - the tenon looks like Swiss cheese. No way can you use the old holes.
I've never had a piece come off or even wobble. But that's because I go to great lengths to have a flat surface for the faceplate, all screw holes are centered in the faceplate holes, all screws are used - no exceptions
The only time I'll use a steady rest and chuck is doing large, heavy (350-lb+) that are also tall (30" length). To my thinking, cantilevering out that far and then subjecting to the rigors of hollowing might be a bit much.
I made the following response in the newbie forum to a guy asking about steady-rests.
Steady rests are necessary when doing large work with chucks. I do hollow-forms up to 22"-dia and have never had a problem using a Oneway faceplate and no steadyrest. If I'm doing a smaller piece of 16" dia or less, I'll use the Oneway 4" - larger and I use their 6". I do about 20-pieces per year and have never had a problem.
I'll start with the log on a 1.5" spur drive on what is to be the top of the vessel - drilling a shallow hole with a 1.5" forstner is critical. Of course to get the piece on the lathe, a chain hoist is needed - some weigh 300-lbs or more. Crank down the tailstock and start knocking down the facets. I'll do the bottom profile and then turn the face-plate tenon. It's critical that this be flat and the same dia as the faceplate.
Position the faceplate on the tenon, mark one hole at 12-o'clock, drill with 11/64 for #14 SS sheet-metal screw - oval heads give a little more bite for the screwdriver - insert one screw. Then determine the rest of the holes with a SELF CENTERING DRILL GUIDE (available any hardware), remove the one screw holding the faceplate, and drill all hole with the 11/64 using a depth stop. I use two different screw lengths: 1.25 for the six inner holes, 1" (points ground off) for the twelve outer. The reason for the shorter screw is that the last cut before finishing is to cut under the 6" faceplate to achieve a 4" base - as the tenon is typically 1" long, I avoid unsightly filled holes near the bottom.
If this seems too much hassle, add one more step: after the rough has dried for up to a year, I'll put the dry and warped piece on the Kelton mandred just to true the surface for the faceplate. New holes are drilled - the tenon looks like Swiss cheese. No way can you use the old holes.
I've never had a piece come off or even wobble. But that's because I go to great lengths to have a flat surface for the faceplate, all screw holes are centered in the faceplate holes, all screws are used - no exceptions
The only time I'll use a steady rest and chuck is doing large, heavy (350-lb+) that are also tall (30" length). To my thinking, cantilevering out that far and then subjecting to the rigors of hollowing might be a bit much.