Has any owner of the G0766 either made or use a two wheel Oneway bowl steady on their lathe. I’m particularly speaking of the open two wheel kind and not 3 or 4 wheel steady. [I have one of those, but too cumbersome for bowl work IMO.] If you have, I would love to see you post a couple of pics of it, and also how well you think it works.
Sorry Roger, but I built a 3-wheel steady rather than a two wheel type. I use it for pieces where the length to width ratio is perhaps 4 or more. I used roller blade wheels and bearings. It works very well. It is rock solid and easy to set up and use. It is smaller and was originally used for a 9" Craftsman lathe. So, if I ever turn anything larger in diameter and a similar 4:1 ratio, I'll just make another one. It wasn't all that hard.
Part 2 : I forgot to mention that it is an "open frame". So I can have a piece chucked up with the other end supported with the tailstock and put on the steady. So, I suppose that it is equivalent to a 2-wheel steady except that it has one more wheel.
Brice...any way you could post a good pic for me to take a look at your open design?
Sure thing, Roger. I found an old photo on my PC. I posted it in the picture section. This was built for a small craftsman. The arm is tubular steel and welded. The three aluminum arms are held firmly in place with aluminum clamps that are rabbited in the area where the arm is to keep the arm rigid once tightened. To put in a piece of wood, I loosen the arm bolts and slide the arms out of the way. I like that I can leave a partially finished piece of wood in the chuck, etc. and add the steady w/o disturbing it. When I gave away my old lathe I decided (1) to keep the steady and put a platform under it for my G0766 and (2) to build a new one if/when I had a real need for something bigger. One of the benefits of a smaller steady is that it can be more rigid. If I had 12" arms, and a 24" tall "C", I would have had to beef them up.
Thanks for the pic, Brice!
Roger, BTW, if I was going to make another one, I think that I would rotate the orientation of the arms clockwise so that there would be no chance that the arms would get in the way of either a laser or camera. I have seen a bunch of posted steady rests where they were made to the max capacity of their lathe - - say 20", 22" or 24". Some were made out of a ring of wood and they appeared overly flexible. So, I think that if a person had a 22" dia. lathe, that it is very unlikely to need a 22" steady. Yes, it is fun to go to the max. But it may not be that important. For instance, if I had a blank that was 2' x 2', I wouldn't need a steady. But if the aspect ratio was, say, 3, 4, or 5 to one, that would be one huge blank. So - at 4:1, that would be an eight foot blank.
Part 2: I can't imagine WHAT I would want to make that would be that length and diameter. In that case, the little rubber wheels might have a short life. If I wanted to make porch or bed posts, they may only be 5 or 6 inches in diameter. When I use it, I have been wrapping the contact point (where the wheels touch) with either stretch wrap and/or painters tape to eliminate the chance that I might be marring the finish. I haven't had any issues. I think that if I did leave some marks, that I could probably sand it out. I bought the wheels and matching bearings on ebay. I paid something around $15 for about 12 wheels. I use black wheels w/o issues but clear wheels might have a lower chance of marking.
