Steady Rest For Mini-Lathe

[Nelson_2008]

Well I want to bore out some 6" long, 2" OD plastic tube (UHMW polyethylene) with my Microlux 7x14 lathe, so I figured I would need a steady rest.

I went to the LMS web site and was surprised and disappointed to see that their mini-lathe steady rest only accomodates 1" (maximum) diameter stock.

Thinking maybe that number was a mis-print (hell even the steady rest for the Sherline lathe, which I believe has only half the swing of a 7x lathe, is 1.75"), I then looked at the Micromark web site...and they don't even happen to mention the capacity of their steady rest.

Assuming the number's not a mis-print, I'm having trouble grasping the concept that - if only I'd gone with the smaller (Sherline) lathe, I could work with bigger stock.

Does anyone know if it's possible to buy a steady rest for a 7x lathe anywhere that can handle a 2 or 2.5" diameter piece"?

[praetor]

Why not have fun and make your own, it'd be a nice challenge. Maybe something like this:

http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/SteadyRest.html

looks like it can do the job and seems pretty straight forward, because sometimes looking for that ideal product or item may not happen up until a rare moment and when it does, grasp it but until then see the fun in trying to make one.

[Nelson_2008]

Hello Praetor,

Thanks for the reply.

I may be forced to try to rig something up, but that's not what I'm inclined to do.

Unfortunately I don't have much of a workshop right now; I don't have a milling machine and I don't have a lot of room to work, or even lots of time to putz around. Hopefully all this will change by next year, but as of right now I simply don't have the means.

Moreover, I basically got the lathe to make some specific parts out of plastic (special transformer bobbins and a few other odds and ends) that I can't buy anywhere "off the shelf", and that wouldn't be worth contracting out because they're prototypes which might need lots of modifications.

It's like going out and buying a new saw, not because you enjoy cutting wood and want to make carpentry your hobby, but because you want to put a deck on your house and you can't afford to contract the job out.

I may end up making a hobby out of it (I do find myself becoming more and more interested in general machining and related things), but as of right now with my cramped space and limited facilities, I'm more interested in a specific end result than anything else.