Steady as she goes, Captain!
Keith Tompkins
>Here is my version of Dominic's steady rest, shown during it's maiden voyage.
I made a couple of engineering changes to his design. Instead of a dado to hold each arm in place, I chose to include three ears on the frame; this allows two bolts to secure each arm. The idea was to better resist torsional twisting under load without weakening the structure.
The frame is birch plywood, two layers laminated in a home-built press. the arms are yellow birch, ripped to one inch, with a 3/8" spacer block glued at each end to form the groove.
I used angle iron to secure the monster to the bed, and to provide extra rigidity to the frame. I tried to match the paint of the General, and I found the green scooter wheels at K-mart.
I have since finished the permanent mounting fixture. I can lift the whole unit straight off the lathe without removing the tailstock, and two large knobs secure to the bed, one on each side.
Another set of arms is in the works, for securing up to a 16" piece. The knobs securing the arms will be moved to the back to avoid interfering with the wheels.
How does it work? Awesome! I hollowed this piece of holly 12" deep, no problem. The holly piece is part of a project.....special thanks to Dom and Mark Kauder for their input.