Steady Rest For Colchester Master (and Standard Modern 1340)

[RobinHood]

RH - what is the reason for using the connector pins vice welding the base to the frame.

@YotaBota, the base has two V grooves: one is 80* included for the British Colchester Master lathe; the other side is a more conventional 90* included V for the Standard Modern 1340. So I undo 2 7/16” SHCS on the bottom, spin the base and put bolts back. I can use one base for two lathes. That way the opening of the steady rest always stays on the operator side. Otherwise it would be on the back when in use on the SM.

Another reason was that I figured if I welded the base to the frame after machining the Vs, the heat might distort it. I would then have no way to re-machine it. With the bolted, “cold”, connection, there is no distortion of the base so that the steady rest sits on the ways without any rocking. That in turn lets you use less clamping force as there is good base contact and nothing will move.

 

[YotaBota]

Got it, I was expecting that you would just turn the rest around to use the other "V" but I hadn't considered the direction of opening.

 

[YYCHM]

Thinking about this now.... are the two beds the same width with only the "V"s of differing configurations?

 

[RobinHood]

My first design iteration as well.

Then I thought that it would probably be safer to load from the front. A 6” log of steel is heavy..

 

[RobinHood]

Thinking about this now.... are the two beds the same width with only the "V"s of differing configurations?

No, they are not. The mounting holes are not in the center of the base. Also, the V distance from the holes are different to compensate for the different bed widths. Lathe center height is also slightly different. Does not seem to matter too much as long as the steady rest center is +/- 1/2” or so of the lathe center you are good to go for all but the smallest (<1” OD) of material.

For material less than 1.5”, the spindle bore is big enough and I can choke up on it, so most likely don’t need the steady anyway.