EZ Home Built Bowl Steady

[Dave Wimmer]

Made from walnut because that's what I happened to have. My grandsons furnished the in-line skate wheels. Works fine so far.

[tod evans]

way to go dave! fully functional, homemade and good lookin`.....02 tod

[Don Baer]

Very good dave, looks like it'll get er done..

[Tom Jones III]

Great idea, I've filed that one away for future use.

It's OK, you can admit it, the wheels came from your roller skates.

[Andy Hoyt]

Geez! Even I could build that. And I shall.

Dave - Question: In terms of vessels it looks great. But for spindle work, you're obviously limited by the diameter of the wheels. So - what's the diameter of your wheels and what's the approximate minimum diameter of a spindle they could effectively steady?

Extra Credit Question - Do you have an opinion as to whether or not smaller diameter wheels would work? As in swiped from (perhaps) a set of casters.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dave looks good. Nice job.

[Dave Wimmer]

Andy,
The wheels are 2 5/8" in diameter. They are 1 1/4" apart so minimum support diameter would be some thing less than 1 1/4". This could be adjusted by repositioning the wheel spacing. I'm not sure about caster wheels because of the type and quality of the bearings.

[John Miliunas]

Very cool, simple and effective solution, Dave! Looks great, to boot! :D Thanks for the idea! :) :cool:

[Dick Parr]

That's great looking Dave:)

[Lee DeRaud]

...what's the approximate minimum diameter of a spindle they could effectively steady?If I did the math right, the answer is 0.155 x D, where D is the diameter of the wheels and they are almost touching...something under 1/2" for the wheels used here. But that assumes a rig where the spacing of the lower wheels is adjustable to keep the distance between any two wheels the same.

[Mark Cothren]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing!

[Bob Noles]

Dave,

Now that's just plain slick and uncomplicated. I'm saving this thread for future use.

[Keith Burns]

Great accessorie Dave:) Looks well made and made well:) Thanks for sharing !

[Andy Hoyt]

If I did the math right, the answer is 0.155 x D, where D is the diameter of the wheels and they are almost touching...something under 1/2" for the wheels used here. But that assumes a rig where the spacing of the lower wheels is adjustable to keep the distance between any two wheels the same.
Thanks, Lee. Yup, the lower wheels would slide laterally. 1/2" aint bad.

[Jim Dunn]

Dave that is a great design. Elegantly simplistic. Course your grandson can't skate any more, but grandpa can turn some very nice pieces.:)

Are the lower wheels adjustable??

[John Hart]

Very cool Dave! Like some of the others, I think I'll give this a ride m'self! :)

[Chris DiCiaccio]

Great idea and great project. I would like to ask if the wheels sit in a slot centered within the width of the boards or are they against the back edge of the boards as viewed? I just can't tell for sure by the photo. Thanks for posting, again great work.

[Jim Becker]

Dave...that's a very nice version and one that "normal people" could actually build! Bravo!

[Mike Ramsey]

Dave, good job on that steady rest! Yep gonna have to rob some
parts off my daughters skates....

[Earl Eyre]

Hi Dave, that's really nice looking. I built a steady rest with three wheels on a large round circle of plywood. You've probably seen plans for that style. I've never been totally happy with it because it tends to vibrate. I assume this is because the wheels being mounted on sliding pieces of plywood, in plywood grooves, in a plywood circle probably never line up perfectly. So my question: does you system run really smooth? Or does the rig tend to vibrate or shake slightly?

If you says it runs smooth, I'll probably try one.

Thanks,
Earl

[Dave Wimmer]

Chris, the wheels are setting in slots made on the router table.
Earle, I haven't used it much yet, but so far, no vibration.

[Andy Hoyt]

Dave - I'm ready to build mine. Wondering if you have any further comments on your creation now that you've had some time to (hopefully) put it into use.

[Pete Jordan]

Looks wonderful Dave!

Did you buy the rods threaded or did you thread them yourself?

Pete

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Thanks for your willingness to share Dave. These are really helpful types of things to know about.