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Wheels for homemade steady rest.

john lucas

john lucas

AAW Forum Expert
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
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Location
Cookeville, TN
I built my steady rest many years ago using inline skate wheels. They are worn and sloppy now. I need new wheels. Any suggestions. I'm also going to modify my steady rest so it's hinged abd will open up so you can either remove it or reposition it without taking tge project down.
 
I was looking at home built steady rests a while back and virtually all of them used skate wheels as far as I could tell.
I bought a set of four together with some ABEC 11 bearings but I’ve not got round to using them yet. Quality of the parts looks pretty good to me and they weren’t expensive. A friend at my club bought the same wheels and he seems to be getting on very well with them. Early days though I guess.

Edit: The bearings seemed so good I used a couple on another project so I’ll need to buy another set before I can make a steady!
 
John - I, too am following your plan to add a hinge to your steady rest. Thought of doing that to my DIY effort, but I seldom use it so it doesn't move to the top of the list of things to get done.

As for the wheels, I used inline skate wheels on mine. I read in one of the forums several years ago that it was a good ides to look at the hardness of the wheels - the good ones are rated on a scale from the high 70's to the 90's for hardness. The dedicated enthusiasts match the hardness to the surface conditions (who knew). The thought was that a harder wheel had a smaller contact area in general, and might be less susceptible to amplifying any vibration while running on a steadyrest.

I have no idea whether its had any effect on performance, but my harder wheels - up in the mid-90's I think - are working fine and show no wear after a couple of decades of ocasional use. I do hit mine with a scraper once in a while when running to keep them as round as possible.

Yet another consideration to muddy the decision-making process when buying stuff online? Probably, but retirement leaves me with way too much time...
 
Using a product for something other than its intended purpose can be tricky, especially if you add in different sizes and firmness of material etc.
I guess if one product has failed to deliver then it’s probably time to try something else. Either in the same product category or something completely different!
Good luck with your next choice. 😉
 
I currently use razor-scooter wheels - they're easy to find. I like 3" dia. For smaller work, probably the in-line skate wheels would be good
 
I use inline skate wheels for any steady I make, if they wear out just replace with the same. They are a cheap and plentiful resource. I find most of my marks come from the wheels being too tight to get around this problem, I use more wheels and I shape the wheel with as a flat area with a slight curve. Its a catch 22 situation , tight enough to do the job can leave marks, too loose wont steady the job and a softer compound maybe wont help either.
But at the end of the day I often lightly sand with an inertia sander as they are more gentle than hand or power sanding.
 
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Darryn Achall said:
These look like good quality wheels, but they are 2" wide. That is a good size path of contact on your piece. My steady rest has less than 1/4" of wheel width in contact with the wood and works well. I don't have any experience with how much a wide contact path would mark up the wood.
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I very rarely have a 2" wide flat surface on a tall hollow from. A 2" wide wheel would have maybe 1/2" contact patch. I like the idea of a flat wheel instead of the in-line skate wheels I have now. They barely have a 1/4" wide contact patch which makes it too easy to bruise soft maple. I wrap blue tape around the form twice with the in-line skate wheels.
 
I use inline skate wheels, no need for hinges as I left it open. I bought some second hand inline skates, but they seem to be out of fashion now. For large vessels I have a steady that only support where I cut. Ready to turn the inside of a bowl from a board. Blue tape to minimize denting.

K3_04709LRs.jpg20211202_164726.jpg
 
I may make one out of metal eventually with an open side. I have a huge metal one I purchased when a doctor woodturner passed. It's made from 5/8" steel with 8 wheels. It weighs 96lbs with all 8 wheels. With 4 wheels I can barely pick it up to.put it on the lathe. Not sure why I'm keeping it. I guess I keep saying some day I'll need it. But by then i will need a hoist to put the wood on the lathe and to install the steady rest.
 
I also started with some old used rollerblade wheels that were laying around but the bearings were crap (with the wheels not far behind). Ended up buying a set of 89a Durometer hardness wheels with ABEC 9 bearings along with bearing spacers on Amazon. Huge difference ... non marking on mesquite, oak, maple, bloodwood and resin so far, although sometimes use painter's tape as well. Very happy so far.

Amazon links -

Wheels & Bearings Link
Spacers Link


My DIY steady from about 1.5 yrs ago ... made some mods since -

https://knotonboard.com/index.php/portfolio-items/woodworking/#bwg6/137
 
I modified my steady. I remounted it so the top arm is off center so it won't get in the way of my laser or video system. Then I cut it in half where you see the black lines. Cut dadoes and glued in a tenon. Now the upper half can be removed if you need to reposition the steady or remove it or install it without discounting the work. I ordered the wheels richard posted. Great wheels with 2 bearings but at 2" a little large. See the wheel on the bottom. I mounted them in My chuck and turned both sides down almost flush with the bearings. It was quite easy with a spindle gouge ground at 35 degrees
 

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Gene Pitstick said:
Not trying to hijack this thread - Question - Has anyone tried the type of wheels used in clothes dryers?
Click to expand...
I refurbished my Whirlpool Duet clothes dryer last year including new drum belt, felt seals, and rollers. While they're great for a clothes dryer, I would consider them to be a poor choice for use in a steady rest. They're designed to carry a lot of weight with a fair amount of flex in the rubber ... definitely not what you need for steady rest wheels.
 
john lucas said:
I modified my steady. I remounted it so the top arm is off center so it won't get in the way of my laser or video system. Then I cut it in half where you see the black lines. Cut dadoes and glued in a tenon. Now the upper half can be removed if you need to reposition the steady or remove it or install it without discounting the work. I ordered the wheels richard posted. Great wheels with 2 bearings but at 2" a little large. See the wheel on the bottom. I mounted them in My chuck and turned both sides down almost flush with the bearings. It was quite easy with a spindle gouge ground at 35 degrees
Click to expand...
Those bolted spline tenons look pretty beefy. Do you sense any loss in stiffness with the two-piece arrangement?

What is the wide wheel sitting on the bottom of the frame?
 
john lucas said:
I was happy with the inline skate wheels at first. So either they have worn or my demands are more
Click to expand...

john lucas said:
I built my steady rest many years ago using inline skate wheels. They are worn and sloppy now. I need new wheels. Any suggestions. I'm also going to modify my steady rest so it's hinged abd will open up so you can either remove it or reposition it without taking tge project down.
Click to expand...

i saw your design. before you give up hope with your steady ready, if you haven't already, try replacing the wheel shafts. unless you've used bolts rated for rotational forces, over time those bolts will warp slightly and the wheels will no longer run steady and true.
 
I often wonder why so many folks make circular steady rests? It looks like a lot of bother. These two random ones found on the net look pretty solid to me and much easier to make. They also have a much larger base in contact with the bed which must be a good thing? Just a thought.

IMG_0899.jpeg

IMG_8831.jpeg
 
Bill Alston said:
I often wonder why so many folks make circular steady rests? It looks like a lot of bother. These two random ones found on the net look pretty solid to me and much easier to make. They also have a much larger base in contact with the bed which must be a good thing? Just a thought.

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Some nice ideas, but for what all that hardware in use would cost me, I could probably BUY a steady rest.. priced out those nuts & washers lately? Whew! I have something similar planned but in wood structure, one of these days when I get A Round Tuit!
 
Brian Gustin said:
Some nice ideas, but for what all that hardware in use would cost me, I could probably BUY a steady rest.. priced out those nuts & washers lately? Whew! I have something similar planned but in wood structure, one of these days when I get A Round Tuit!
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Really, that’s a shame. Over here a metre of M16 threaded rod is about £7. Nuts to suit are about 10p each and washers about 5p each, all dependent on quantity of course. As mentioned earlier skate wheels and bearings can be had quite cheap. Plus some scrap timber.

The OneWay spindle steady is £126.50 over here.
 
Whew. I went to local hardware and got 4x 1"x8 TPI nuts for a home-build project (longworth chuck) for my old lathe, plus some washers, I just remember the total bill (with a small tube of 5-minute epoxy) was north of $30 and by my count there's 24 nuts in one of those projects you pictured, which I'd then estimate to come to $180 USD in total hardware & materials... Hence my comment. :)
 
I looked those flat rests. I built mine before youtube. I built it with just screws so it was easy to take it apart and modify it. I glued it together this time. I have very little money in it the first time since it was made out of scrap plywood. The only expense was the wheels and a few carriage bolts.
 
I suppose it depends on how thick you want/need the threaded rod. 1” nuts are I suppose quite expensive.
I’m pretty sure 16mm would do the job but it obviously depends on how big the workpiece is.
A friend has built one recently and I believe he used 16mm.

£7 for 1 metre of 16mm threaded rod.
£2 for 20 x 16mm nuts.
£1 for 20 x 16mm washers.

£10.00 ($12.69)

These are the cheapest prices I could see online. I have a discount store near me so I expect I can get them for a similar price locally.
 
Bill Alston said:
I often wonder why so many folks make circular steady rests? It looks like a lot of bother. These two random ones found on the net look pretty solid to me and much easier to make. They also have a much larger base in contact with the bed which must be a good thing? Just a thought.

View attachment 64312

View attachment 64313
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I built one like the metal one but found it is a pain in the neck to adjust. I used skate wheels and 3/8" allthread
 
Jim Byrne said:
I built one like the metal one but found it is a pain in the neck to adjust. I used skate wheels and 3/8" allthread
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That is what I thought. The wheels should only apply very light pressure so it looks like it would be time-consuming to set up. Also, that design would only work for small-diameter pieces. A steady-rest structure needs to be very rigid so that it doesn't flex or rock. I think meeting that goal would be quite challenging for stabilizing large-diameter pieces.
 
Looks like those square steadies would be easy to build and work ok. The second one looks like it is not as wide across the bed. It might be easier to maneuver around if you are standing to the side and not on the end of the lathe. That first one looks solid but pretty wide. If you have a large swing and want to put big pieces in it, the wider one will work better. I will stick with my round steady rest!
 
Bill Boehme said:
I refurbished my Whirlpool Duet clothes dryer last year including new drum belt, felt seals, and rollers. While they're great for a clothes dryer, I would consider them to be a poor choice for use in a steady rest. They're designed to carry a lot of weight with a fair amount of flex in the rubber ... definitely not what you need for steady rest wheels.
Click to expand...
That is the kind of response that is helpful. Thanks Bill.
 
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