steady rest parts

[Mike Newell]

Hello,

I was hoping to make a steady rest for a mini lathe. I see most are made with inline skate wheels. The local sporting goods store has them but $30. seems pricy for what I want them for. Any ideas on a cheaper set?

Thanks, Mike

[Terry Murphy]

Thrift store, yard sale.
Should get a good pair for 3-10 dollars.
Terry

[Bob Haverstock]

Hello,

I was hoping to make a steady rest for a mini lathe. I see most are made with inline skate wheels. The local sporting goods store has them but $30. seems pricy for what I want them for. Any ideas on a cheaper set?

Thanks, Mike


Mike,

I bought a nice pair at a rumage sale for fifty cents. That would be 8 wheels.

Bob Haverstock

[John Keeton]

Mike, several have made their own steady, but should you decide to consider other options, let me suggest checking with fellow creeker Jeff Nicol. Jeff makes a great steady, designed specifically for your lathe. It is solid, and very reasonably priced.

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer!

[Bob Haverstock]

Mike, several have made their own steady, but should you decide to consider other options, let me suggest checking with fellow creeker Jeff Nicol. Jeff makes a great steady, designed specifically for your lathe. It is solid, and very reasonably priced.

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer!


+ one on what John said. Jeff makes a very nice steady rest. Jeff made one for my JWL 1220. You can make one, but then what is your time worth? In the next few months I'll be ordering another one for my new Nova 16-24. For now, I've got to feed my rat.

Bob Haverstock

[Bernie Weishapl]

I bought a pair of inline skates at Target on sale for $7. Gave me 8 wheels so built two steadies.

[Ryan Baker]

Just be careful if you are using used wheels. They often have a lot of grit and debris embedded in the wheels that can make a mess of your work. Make sure they are clean.

[Willard Foster]

I got free wheels from a coworker. He got new wheels for his.
He looked at me funny when I asked for the old ones. But then, I get looked at funny a lot ;-)

I imagine a place that sells skates may have some used wheels around. If the wheels are too bad you may be able to use just the bearings.

Bill

[Brian Brown]

I did what bernie did. Very inexpensive, and spares.

[Dolan Brown]

I got a pair on rollerblades at a second hand shop for $5 (eight wheels). Lightly used but some light scuffing so I put my 220grit flap sander in the jacobs chuck on the lathe and sanded them smooth. :) Used them on my homemade steady rest and finished a goglet - worked great.

[Jeff Nicol]

I buy mine in bulk from a store on e-bay, sometimes they have great deals for new bearings and wheels. They have lots of really cool wheels if you want something wild and cool! TGM skate is the place or just do a search on e-bay. I started out with the used ones from a thrift store when I built my first one. I just made the arms and mounted the wheels and used my 6" belt sander to true them up and get rid of the dirt. Just hold the wheel to the sander as it is running and the wheel spins and it does a great job. Also works to make them flatter or smaller. If you have any questions let me know I will help how ever I can.

Jeff