Hello to all forum members and a special apology from me.
We have all had ways of dealing with the Covid pandemic, and I had a leaning of being totally inward and introvert with?
our severe "lockdowns" which were hard and brutal here in Spain. So i became LAZY in my communications. Again I apologise.
This normally is not me but I sadly miss the music processions Easter and Xmas and summer fiestas that in the past 14 years I have enjoyed?
playing my saxophone and being part of the total village atmospheres. Yes it?s been hard 14 months for us all worldwide.
But hopefully we are all coming to terms with the severity and dealing with the future sensibly and making the best of life as we know now it.
This extra time has kept me very busy in both mind and body to work in my machine shop and be productive, and hoping this has been the same?
for a lot of us. So no excuse for not having the spare time unless you want to be in? Gods waiting room, and this is not any of my members of this forum.

So, my Real Bull 7" mini lathe was never supplied with a 3 arm steady, 2 arm yes but I needed to replace th finger end to rollers to roller bearings.

If I have put the photo?s in the correct order, ??m? then you will follow my logic in making a 3 arm lathe steady, can be good for holding up to 50 mm dia bar x 230 mm long, nd
that is quite significant for a mini lathe.

photo1? 152 mm dia alloy I call a biscuit , held in the chuck with soft jaws, standard hard jaws will not be possible.
faced both sides to 20 mm thick. Topped to 150 mm dia.
Facing using the CSS, constant surface feed, IE the spindle speed increases towards the the spindle center line, see CSS in the old forum posts.
Bored a 40 mm dia manufacturing hole.
Bored a 40 mm spigot hole in my mill tooling plate and drilled in 4 x manf securing holes that pick up off existing bolt holes in the table.

photo2 The biscuit was then sliced in half on my favourite tool, a power saw I built, and uses just hacksaw blades. 80% of the parts I used to build this came from a Chinese cheapo drill press.
Saw Drawings from myfordboy. Thanks Dave Abbot.
photos 3 4 5 .the half biscuits profile milled using my mini Weiss mill and the DDCS v3.1 CNC system, as just recently posted to Tamra.
photos 7 8 9 10 11 12 check fitting and making up the arms etc etc. All simple stuff. The brass Mecano plate I made? many years ago when building Minnie a model steam tractor?
and bolts to the bed and th steady bolts to that. Fortunately more good luck than judgement, the total stack up height of the steady with mecano plate was dead on the c/line?
of the lathe spindle Phew.??
photo 13? A check fit of a 50 mm dia bung held in the chuck jaws and the 3 arm steady, fingers and arms adjusted accordingly.
photo 14? A 52 mm dia bar held chuck end.
photo 15 A manf rail turned in held by the steady to just clean up the bar to round.
photo 16 The steady then is repositioned over the rail and arms again adjusted accordingly. Then a trial facing and surfacing cuts were done to prove out the steady.
photo 17 Especially for Tamra The DDCS CNC Ver 3.1? giving an image of the shape it will cut before starting up the machine. Very useful in the past I can assure you. better Oops.
before the cutters enter into oblivion LOL.
Photo 18 The DDCS Ver 3.1 coordinates versus the Blu tooth DRO, You will see a difference of X by a minimal amount, this is where the backlash in the screw which is read off the?
DRO, but it catches up. It is the DDCS that is th master in control. All DDCS? 4 axis have backlash settings, along with 200 settings that can define the machine you have and accuracy you need.

Hope all this meets with members approval, if you do not understand then reply ??? LOL
possibly a cup of coffee to digest all the photos.

Thanks


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John

Photos seem to be in reverse order.
I do not know why, oh well.
If any members are confused, then please ask me or as Richard of the UK says YELL OUT.
Please lets hear from the members of this wonderful group.?

Take care, be aware of your surroundings, friends and family.
The roads to evil can be paved with good intent.

--
John

Very nice work on the 3 point steady, it's a little hard to see in the images but do you have rollers on the ends of the fingers?
I have one to make in the near future for a 4 1/2" CB8 Holbrook lathe.

I have kept busy restoring a Myford PR11 planer, I had left it in the workshop for too many years and it was looking a little sad, but it's well on the way to working again in new colours.

Keep safe.

Phill

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John,

That is truly beautiful work! Thanks for sharing the photos!

Re your question, I think that the most recently posted photos appear nearest the top. So, for future reference, if you want the photos in chronological order, you have to post them in reverse chronological order, I.E., finished photos first.
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Regards,

Charlie
New Jersey, USA

?

SATTINGER’S LAW: It works better if you plug it in.

On Tue, Mar 16, 2021 at 03:39 PM, Barry McDOwell wrote:

The steady is brilliant, my Real Bull came with both fixed and travelling steadies so I guess I was lucky. ?

Hi, Barry,

I agree 100% re John's Steady!

My Real Bull also came with Steady and Traveling Rests, but my 3-point Steady Rest is not split, I.E., it will not open like John's. He has suggested that I modify it, which should be a simple little project.

It was great Skyping with you the other evening! (Well, morning for you Down Under!) Have a good time in the shop today!!!
--
Regards,

Charlie
New Jersey, USA

SATTINGER’S LAW: It works better if you plug it in.

Barry,

Apologies... I didn't remember the Real Bull Steady Rest properly. It doesn't open, but has a fixed opening for removing work. See photo below. I have yet to add bearings to mine.


--
Regards,

Charlie
New Jersey, USA

SATTINGER’S LAW: It works better if you plug it in.

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Clausing 8520, Craftsman 12x36 Lathe, 4x12 mini lathe, 14" Delta drill press, 40 watt laser, Consew brushless DC motors and a non working 3D printer

<You can read a 100 different for and against bearings on steady rest.>

Hi, Ralph,

Having used it without bearings numerous times, I can't think of a disadvantage of adding bearings. At any rate, I am making new "fingers" for the bearings, so I can always change back if it actually becomes an issue.
--
Regards,

Charlie
New Jersey, USA

SATTINGER’S LAW: It works better if you plug it in.

--
Clausing 8520, Craftsman 12x36 Lathe, 4x12 mini lathe, 14" Delta drill press, 40 watt laser, Consew brushless DC motors and a non working 3D printer

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Surely a sensible way to use a 3 point steady is to cut a hole in a piece of card or plastic and slide it over the work to stop the chips getting to the bearing areas. Hold to steady with tape or whatever.
Richard

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John

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Clausing 8520, Craftsman 12x36 Lathe, 4x12 mini lathe, 14" Delta drill press, 40 watt laser, Consew brushless DC motors and a non working 3D printer

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