"Colombo moment" ( Just one little question... about tool rests...)

[David DeCristoforo]

I posted a pic of my "enhanced" lathe on WoW and that pesky Jamie Donaldson had to go and plant another bee in my bonnet by suggesting a Robust tool rest to replace the stock CI one. I have been looking at those but there are so many options that my simple mind has become confused!

My stock rest has a 1" X 2.25" post and the rest itself adds 2 more inches. So it looks to me like what I would need to get is the "low profile" rest with the 1" X 2.5" post to work on this lathe.

My question is does anyone know for sure that this rest would work out on this lathe? Maybe you have one like it? I could call the vendor and I probably will tomorrow but I just thought I would throw this out there...

[David E Keller]

No clue, but everybody that has one of those rests really seems to like it. Others have just out a hardened steel rod on their existing rest with JB weld. Jeff Nicol makes a nice rest I hear. Wait a minute... You weren't looking for more options,huh? Can't help you... I'm still frozen in indecision about my own toolrest.

[John Keeton]

David, you might want to check with Jeff Nicol - here are the rests he made for my Jet - they work great! I did have to cut a little off the post height on the tallest one, but that was a 5 minute job.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=190371&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1302043683 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=190371&d=1302043683)http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=190370&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1302043680 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=190370&d=1302043680)

[charlie knighton]

David, let me put another idea in your hat rack

use long tool rest for roughing out, use short tool rest less than 6" for final cuts

tip from Allan Batty ------- vibration

[Kyle Iwamoto]

No news here, I have a robust and Jeff's rests. There's great rests. Buy one that's too long (high) if you're unsure. As mentioned, you can cut the longer one. Can't make a short one taller.
The LP rest itself may also be shorter.

[Jamie Donaldson]

AAhhh David, why don't you just phone Brent at Robust, and I bet he can advise which rest will fit and probably already has a rest in his stock, and if you're going to the AAW Symposium you could pick it up.

[Reed Gray]

CI tool rests have a lot more friction when sliding your tools across them. Makes a huge difference when switching to the drill rod tool rests. Also, they never dent or ding, but I don't tap my tools on them to clear shavings.

robo hippy

[David DeCristoforo]

"... why don't you just phone Brent..."

I'm hearing Ronald Reagan here (remember him?) "Weeeelllll, now there you go again…. logic!"

"...just...a hardened steel rod on their existing rest with JB weld..."

I would love to get a Robust rest or one of Jeffs'. But here's the thing… I have an extra rest, I have some tool steel rod and I have some JB Weld. What I don't have right now is "extra cash", having pretty much exhausted my "discretionary resources" on paint. OK, the new Glaser tools did not help too much in the "cash on hand" department. But, for the moment, I'm trying the "homebrewed" approach. I do have a lot of trouble keeping the soft CI tool rests smooth. I've got it "cooking" out in the tent right now so I'll post a pic when it's "done".