DIY Steady rest with micro-adjust

[peltona]

I used a bunch of scrap ply to build this steady rest.
Fun little project

 

[Roy G]

Nice feature that it opens up so you can put your piece in from the side.

Roy G

 

[Henry W]

I used a bunch of scrap ply to build this steady rest.
Fun little project

Micro adjust? It's not obvious to me - how is that accomplished? I have not used a steady rest.

 

[Michael Mathews]

Micro adjust? It's not obvious to me - how is that accomplished? I have not used a steady rest.

Henry, looks to me like the micro-adjust is the threaded rod with large knobs outside the ring to move the wheels in and out. That's a nice feature to have on a steady rest!

 

[peltona]

Micro adjust? It's not obvious to me - how is that accomplished? I have not used a steady rest.

Michael nailed it. Most steady rests I've seen for wood lathes just have the black start knobs that lock the fingers in place after you manually adjust until they touch your work. Those work just fine as well. My metal lathe has a steady rest with micro-adjust knobs and I thought that would be neat to try to have on my own version of a wood lathe steady rest with that metal lathe feature. You could realistically go your entire wood-turning journey without ever using or needing a steady rest much like not having a chuck (introduced in the 1980s I've read). They are handy when you have a lot of stick out on spindle work to reduce chatter or to address the end of a spindle where the tailstock center would be in your way or if you are hollowing out a wooden vase or chalice.

 

[Henry W]

Thanks Michael and Andrew. Once pointed out (and I used a larger than my phone screen) I could see the mechanism and understand it. Makes sense.

 

[Dee2]

I used a bunch of scrap ply to build this steady rest.
Fun little project

Please consider writing a How-to article on building one of these?