STEADY REST

This is the steady rest I built and use.  I'm not sure where the original plans came from but, like everything else I build, I probably used them as a rough guide and designed in details and features that I felt were important in using the jig.

BASE

The base is made of blocks of oak with key-strips installed, as shown, to fit the bed of the lathe.  The dimensions are lathe-specific so you would have to measure and mill the stock for your particular lathe

There is a T-nut installed in the bottom of the lower block. A bolt, inserted into a hole drilled through the upper and lower blocks and into the t-nut, securely fastens the jig to the lathe bed.

TOP SECTION

The ring, in this case, is made from poplar but any hardwood will do.  I laminated two pieces of 3/4-inch x 11 1/2-inch x 11 1/2-inch stock together and cut a 7 1/2-inch diameter hole in the center.  I then trimmed the outside of the ring to give me a 1 1/2-inch thick ring with an outside diameter of 11 1/2-inches and an inside diameter of 7 1/2-inches.

The bottom of the ring is cut to meet the upper block of the base, which is about 4-inches wide in my case, (again, lathe-specific) and fastened with glue and screws.

Draw a line perpendicular to the base through the center of the ring.  Draw lines 60-degrees to the left and right of where this line crosses the top of the ring. These three lines are the center points of where you will rout 1 1/4-inch wide x 1/4-inch deep dadoes.  These dadoes are for the adjustable wheel guides described below.

The wheel guides are made from 1/2-inch Baltic birch plywood cut 1 1/4-inch wide and 8-inches long with a 5-inch long, 1/4-inch wide slot routed length-wise down the center.  On one end of the guides, there is a hole drilled for a   1/4-inch x 1 3/4-inch bolt to mount the wheel from an in-line roller skate.   The bolt is attached with two lock-nuts on either side of the guide.

The guides are attached with 1/4-inch carriage bolts and adjustment knobs in the dadoes that were routed in the ring.  The guides are sanded to slide freely in the dadoes.