Question about steady rests

[Raul McCai]

I'm making a rest it's kind of a take on the Jeff Nichol rest except I'm, using a welded up rig from 2" square steel tube with an opening for the camera in the visualizer

so:


In the machine tool industry a steady rest is a cruel and exacting mistress.
I'm unsure how the dynamics in wood differ.

I've read a great deal of what's been written about rests for the wood lathe.
Ive seen set ups where the wheels are not in the same line and those where they are. Given the lightness of the wheel on the work I can see either working fine, but there's two factors I have never seen addressed:
Co-planarity of the rollers and alignment to the spindle

No matter how many wheels one uses and no matter whether they are all in the same line or not , if they aren't all planar to each other and that plane dead in line with the spindle don't the wheels tend to push or pull the work out of the chuck?

Reason I ask is I'm at a design juncture where I can do a whole lot more work and make my wheels adjustable ( a little rotating end piece for the wheel mount) with respect to the angle at which they attack the work or just let them end up where they end up using the square bar stock I'm working with.
I can always start over if it's unworkable when I' done, so it's just metal.


So do you rest users notice any issues with roller wheels and them working the piece out of the chuck?

 

[John Torchick]

Hmmm, complicated. Now that I think on it, I 'm glad I bought one online.

 

[Dwight R Rutherford]

Have never had any issues with a "Nichol" style steady working the piece out of the chuck.

 

[john lucas]

Interesting question All of the ones I've built have the wheels in line with each other. The next one I build will have a gap or at least a very thin section on top for the camera or lazer. I think you may be overthinking it a little at least about the wheels trying to push or pull the piece. Where you place the wheels (or the whole steady rest) can do the same thing. If you have a vessel that your supporting and you don't have the wheels exactly on the highest point it could either push or pull the vessel. I really haven't noticed this as a problem but then I don't use my steady a whole lot. I'll be interested to see other responses and would love to see photos of your finished rest.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

I'm making a rest it's kind of a take on the Jeff Nichol rest except I'm, using a welded up rig from 2" square steel tube with an opening for the camera in the visualizer

so:
View attachment 8967

In the machine tool industry a steady rest is a cruel and exacting mistress.
I'm unsure how the dynamics in wood differ.

I've read a great deal of what's been written about rests for the wood lathe.
Ive seen set ups where the wheels are not in the same line and those where they are. Given the lightness of the wheel on the work I can see either working fine, but there's two factors I have never seen addressed:
Co-planarity of the rollers and alignment to the spindle

No matter how many wheels one uses and no matter whether they are all in the same line or not , if they aren't all planar to each other and that plane dead in line with the spindle don't the wheels tend to push or pull the work out of the chuck?

Reason I ask is I'm at a design juncture where I can do a whole lot more work and make my wheels adjustable ( a little rotating end piece for the wheel mount) with respect to the angle at which they attack the work or just let them end up where they end up using the square bar stock I'm working with.
I can always start over if it's unworkable when I' done, so it's just metal.


So do you rest users notice any issues with roller wheels and them working the piece out of the chuck?

I use a shop made rest constructed of plywood with rectangular steel sliding bars for the wheels. I believe that your first comment "Given the lightness of the wheel on the work I can see either working fine ..." pretty much sums it up. I believe that it would take gross misalignments to cause any of the problems that you are concerned with. A few technical details: In principle, if the axis of one of the wheels is not coplaner with the spindle, that wheel will tend to exert a force toward or away from the chuck. (The wheel axis need not be parallel to the spindle to avoid this force.) If the wheels are not in a line, there will be some bending force acting on the workpiece. This could important if you are turning a spindle with with small diameter sections near the steady rest. I opted to keep mine in line.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

I can always start over if it's unworkable when I' done, so it's just met

just use the bowl steady sold by craft supplies......get to a point where your hollowing is so smooth you do not need a steady.....ie Nick Cook

 

[JeffSmith]

I made a Nichols style steady a while back and used three wheels rather than four (figuring that three points of contact were plenty and would fully capture the circumference), angled the wheels 7 degrees right of center similar to what Steve Sinner does with his Advanced Lathe Tools models. It works great. There's no problem with a laser or a camera system and it is as solid as a rock. I've toyed with the idea of cutting out a section for easier access to the piece and clearance for the laser/camera setup, but after using it for a while have found it's really not necessary for the way I work.
From your drawing, it looks very similar to Steve's design (you can see it on the Sanding Glove website. His is made of plate steel, as I recall, and seems to be solid as a rock - I saw it at the symposium a while back.