home-made steady rest

[Dennis Ford]

This is in the "try it, see if it works" stage so no paint yet. I used a flange ring (thanks Jeff Nicol for the idea) with pivoting wheel supports (copied that idea from some that I saw at SWAT). It worked OK for the little that I have used it so far. I plan to change the pivot bolts to carriage bolts and add some knobs with captured nuts to make the set-up easier. It should allow use of a laser if mounted opposite the way shown here.

There is a 24" framing square in the picture for size reference.

[Baxter Smith]

That looks real good Dennis. Add a few more holes and you could have all sorts of placement possibilities for those wheel supports.

[Roger Chandler]

that will work!

[Jeff Fagen]

Very simple and to the point,I think it will serve you well.

[Richard Jones]

Very nice, Dennis. The pivoting supports are a nice touch.

Can you tell us where/how you got the flange ring?

Thanks for sharing.

Rich

[Dennis Ford]

I ordered the ring from McMaster Carr, it was about $20

[John Keeton]

Excellent piece of work! I kind of like the idea of three wheels vs. four.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice looking steady.

[James Combs]

Excellent piece of work! I kind of like the idea of three wheels vs. four.

What John said but I also see a big advantage to any DIY-er. The design significantly reduces the amount of welding required. The only welding I see is the base plate which in the example appears to be a piece of 2-3 inch angle iron. The down side is a lot of shaping/slotting of the swing arms but most small shops could find a way to do that with a drill and sabre saw when they may not have ready access to a welder.