Lathe steady position

Hi, after a couple years of use of use (I know , I know) I have finally got around to trying out the lathe steady on my toolco 1130. After fixing it to the saddle it appears not to line up with the part being turned. Is this normal? ( hopefully photo attached) if the holes in the saddle are in the incorrect place I assume the easiest way to fix this would be to put slots in the stead6 and move it along to the corrc5 positioning?

Hi Keith, looks to me the fixing holes are in the wrong place on the steady.

If you remove the fixing screw closest to the operator and swivel the steady until the top finger is vertical to the lathe bed it may then also be on the centre line, also the back finger needs to be on work centre.

If that is the case you could redrill the steady for the fixing screw removed, you may have to plug the original hole for security of the steady.

Emgee

It certainly looks like an error in manufacture. That will be tricky to sort by redrilling. Perhaps an easier solution would be to make new fingers with offset ends. Or modify the existing ones by soldering flat pads onto the ends, marking where they touch the workpiece and angling the ends to suit.

Would It be possible to fit approximately 10 mm sandwich plate and not to use the original erroneous screw locations but make new ones furher away (and possibly Low Hex Head Screws or countersunk head screws)?

Maybe you need to make back fixing point trough the steady and sandwich plate, maybe there is enough space outside of the fixed steady?

This would allow to fix this steady to to sandwich plate first and then make fresh start for new fixing screws. Allows using the new (better and more locating postitions) for mounting and removing the fixed steady and allows better location fixing for news holes. I would put good size arbour between chuck and tail stock, locate steady fingers to near ideal places, CA glue the steady onto cross slide and then mark location for fresh screws.

Downside is that a sandwich plate moves the fingers away from the cutting tool, sometimes it is problem, sometimes not really that much.

I think I would just mill the holes into slots to slide it forwards the 4-5mm needed.

Make sure the holes in the steady don't have excess filler or paint in them which may be throwing things out a bit.

Looks like the wrong steady or a badly drilled apron.

I would mill an inch wide flat across the holes to the depth of the counter-bore. Slot the holes to let the steady slide forwards into alignment and make a clamp plate to span the slots.

Before doing that, or lacking milling facilities, I would clamp it up with the front bolt only and see if it will rotate into a suitable position. If it does, re-drill the back hole further inboard.

To me the front fixing hole in the steady looks 1-2mm higher than the back one. This would lean the steady back and displace the finger 3-6mm from the right position.

Neil

Neil - wouldn’t a hole higher up the steady move it towards the lead screw not away??

Not wanting to sound thick, but what if the fingers were repositioned in the photo so that horizontal was at 3 o clock ( but pulled backwards) enabling vertical to be 12 o clock rather than 1 o clock. Looks to me if horizontal finger adjustment is "reduced", everything should line up.

Or have i missed something?

For a simpler repair approach the top finger could be removed, built up on the front side with weld, then ground to an appropriate shape with the tip on vertical centre.

Or you could make a set of fingers with ball bearings instead of direct contact fingers - and place the pivot holes for the bearings at correct positions.

Just food for thought.

I would try testing what would happen if the front hole in the steady was repositioned. Looking from the chuck side, the steady minus the front screw could be pivoted until the vertical finger is directly above the spindle axis. At this point, the horizontal finger should be checked to see if it is in line with the spindle in the horizontal axis. If those two positions can be achieved, then the front screw position in the steady can be remachined. The new hole at the front of the steady will be further from the edge where there is plenty of meat.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my post and to offer great guidance ( as usual ) Due to this I can take look tomorrow and see if the two fixing screws are horizontal and establish where the ‘ three o'clock ‘ finger is actually pushing on the part. I will report back tomorrow and hopefully discuss a simple fix. Thanks again. Keith mm

When you're lining it up use a smallish piece of stock in the chuck to do it. Alignment is more critical as the diameter of the part decreases.

Good point. It's clearly fubared....

Neil

Yes - it's fixed to the saddle not the carriage so you can't move the body of the steady back and forth.

I have bolted the steady with the one rear bolt and then twisted the steady until the fingers were at 12 o’clock and three ( by eye). As you can see from the photos the unbolted front hole does not line up with the tapped hole on the saddle. Well spotted that man! How accurate does my fixing of the hole need to be? I have a mill so tempted to make the front hole in the steady a slot and then move steady to position by eye (ie adjust to ge 12 and 3 o’clock for the fingers). Solutions gratefully received. Keith mm

Keith

If you clean off the cross slide and lay a steel rule on the top of the cross slide and touching the steady you can scribe a fine line from front to back on the steady.
Remove the steady and measure to the centre of the hole from the top face of the cross slide, add the thickness of the rule used to scribe the line, this will give you the distance from the scribed line on the steady to the centre of the new hole neede to fix the steady in the new position.
Measure the centre distance of the fixing holes and transfer the dimension to the steady so you get the new hole in the desired place.

As I said earlier you may have to plug the existing hole before drilling the new one to ensure the hole stays on the marked centre.
Counterbore for the setscrew head while set up for the fixing hole.

Emgee

Edited By Emgee on 02/09/2019 21:11:53

If you reposition the front hole using your mill, it would be better if it and the counterbore were bigger and a custom screw were made. Or a stepped bush, perhaps. As already mentioned, use a small diameter test bar in the chuck or tailstock to get a more accurate visual idea of when both fingers are aligned. If the centre lines can be got within 1mm, you should be good to go.

Many thanks Emgee and ‘old mart’. Your guidance is duly noted and I will embark on the modifications safe in the knowledge I have been wisely guided. Keith mm