Steady Rest and Video Discounts

Here are the drawings of the steady rest dimensions. This turning aid has been a work in progress and frankly still is. Sometimes I think of different approaches that might improve it and work better, it works well enough that I haven’t devoted the time.

Here is the basic works of the jig with one side panel removed. How you mount it will determine the position of the part that holds the roller blade wheels

If you come up with better solutions or riff on the theme, I’d love to hear about it. I show a simpler version of this in my book that doesn’t use wheels, just friction, and it worked well for me for many years. If a kind blog reader hadn’t sent me some rollerblade wheels, I’d probably still use the old version, inertia being what it is.

Here are most of the dimensions that I used on mine, you can use them as a jumping off point to suit your needs, it’s very adaptable

One of the keys to using this is to correctly weight the wedge. Too much and it will flex the piece too easily and too little and it create enough steadying pressure. Also, smoothing the area where the wheels make contact is key to limiting vibration. There is definitely a learning curve, but it’s well worth it because of how much time it shaves off turning long parts. Sometimes I even use it while turning balusters when I really want to eliminate all vibration so I can focus on the getting the shapes that I want.

I hope you are taking this time to have a good rest and reflect on all that you’ve done and enjoyed this year, I know I am. Yes, time flies, but with all the changes and action that I’ve had this year, it’s been more of a crawl.

take a hint from George and get some rest

I’ve created a 40% off discount code for my Foundations series on Vimeo on Demand, for subcribers to this feed (paid supporters will find another code below). Follow this link if you want to buy it, the code is “Subscriber”. The promo ends January 8th, 2024.

When you want to view your purchase, make sure to visit “Vimeo on Demand” and log in, not “Vimeo”. I know it’s a dumb distinction and you would think that this far along having the internet, that these two sites would be one, but they aren’t, so go to the right one or it will tell you to purchase the video again to view it…again, unforgivably dumb, but it works well otherwise.