FILENAMES: AtlasAsy.jpg SteadyR1.JPG SteadyR2.JPG SteadyR3.JPG SteadyR4.jpg SteadyR5.jpg SteadyR6.jpg SteadyR7.jpg SteadyR8.jpg SteadyR9.jpg DESCRIPTION: These are pictures of a steady rest built by Mike Fendley . Mike provided the following description: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ball Bearing Steady Rest and Atlas Accessories. First the photos. The first one is a shot of some Atlas accessories I've made from scratch. (See AtlasAsy.jpg) None were kit built. (By the way, you can do this too! I'm just a rank amateur.) The next 3 are of the ball bearing steady on an Atlas 12". The lathe is gone and these pictures are all I have of the steady on the lathe. One picture shows the steady and homemade boring bar holder. You'll also see the extended slot off the back of the cross slide that came off a Clausing lathe. It fit my 12" magnificently by just taking off the chip guard on the cross slide and tapping two holes to put it on. The other part of the taper attachment stayed in the drawer until needed. You'll also see a 4" 6 jaw universal / independent Buck chuck. One day my high school son was tightening the independent aspect of the chuck and cracked the center part (heart and soul) of the chuck. We were both sick. 1 year later in machinist school he made a new center section for the chuck out of steel! It was better than the original. (By the way, I sold the Atlas to keep him in school.) He is now a CNC machinist . . . and even at 21, he is a good one! . . . but I digress. The clearance on the steady allows the saddle to slide right under it and put the compound right on the ball bearings if needed. I built it from a set of plans I got from somebody (long gone). However, the crank handles on top feeding the jaws in were my idea. Also the tightening knobs have a 1/4x40 TPI thread. By turning those stainless steel knobs, you can really tighten up the ball bearing jaws with absolutely no wobble or movement. Each jaw is made up of 1/4 x 1" aluminum bar stock. The main body was carved out of a chunk of scrap aluminum 3/4" thick out of the scrap yard. I drew an outline of the steady on the scrap, and also scribed the 9+" circle at the same time. The outside was cut off on a band saw and the edge given a smooth finish on an edge belt sander that runs the same direction as the flat of the table. That way all the sanding marks go with the edge of the steady not across it. The hole was machined on an 8" rotary table (that had a 1/4" larger auxiliary aluminum table attached). That way I could clamp the steady on the outer edges while machining out the center. It also enabled me to machine into the 1/4" aux. table and not into the rotary table. While on the table, the 3 slots for the arms are machined as were the reliefs for the ball bearings. The reliefs allow the jaws to fully retract to enable you to turn a 9" piece of tubing or stock. I have machined up to 6" solid steel stock in the lathe using the steady and up to 9" tubing with it. It will go down to about 1" in diameter. For smaller stuff I usually made a cat-head for the smaller stock, attached it to the stock, turned it between centers to get a smooth bearing surface on the cat-head, and then put it into the steady. Ex. when my son wanted to turn off the sights of his Ruger 10/22 and thread the end of his rifle to accept various "kid" designed blast deflectors. The cat-head works well in those situations so that you're steady doesn't have to go down to 1/2". Pictures are as follows: AtlasAsy.jpg - These are attachments I made for the 12" Atlas. (Clock wise from left: Cast iron t-slotted cross slide table with gib lock (got to pour this myself before I machined it), ball bearing steady rest, collet holder for .500 Hardinge collet and draw bar to put milling cutters in the head of the Atlas, boring bar holder that will take 5 different diameter boring bars, adapter replacing the Atlas compound to hold a Unimat vertical bar with the power head used as a milling machine. (This was really handy when cutting hexagonal heads on parts using the Atlas 60 hole indexing bull gear and putting a flycutter on the Unimat head. Depth of cut was taken care of by feeding the Unimat head down like a drill press and locking it into position. In this fashion the part never left the lathe after being turned. The Unimat head acting as a vertical mill could cut the 6 flats of the part so that a wrench could turn it. (Note, you must make a special spindle lock, as the little pin on the 60 hole bull gear is not strong enough to hold the spindle tightly.) SteadyR1.jpg - Steady rest mounted on the end of the way until needed. SteadyR2.jpg - Saddle sliding under the steady with boring bar holder in place. SteadyR3.jpg - Notice the base has 4 allen head screws holding the steady to the Atlas base. (Allowing it to be mounted to other lathes just by making the proper base.) SteadyR4.jpg - Steady in all its glory! (Ha! There's oil and goop all over it.) SteadyR5.jpg - This shows the Atlas base and clamp for the steady (on left). It also gives a close up of the clamping knob and feed crank. SteadyR6.jpg - Close up of the clamping knob and jaws (arms) of the steady. The Unimat adapter is holding up the steady at the base of the picture. SteadyR7.jpg - The parts to one arm. Notice the shaft to the right of the ball bearing. It has a larger diameter with a hole in it. The short part of the shaft is 1/4x28 thread and gets a nylock nut. The long side is 1/4x40 TPI and gets the stainless knob. The hole is to allow the 1/4x20 threaded feed rod to pass through it to move the arms in and out. SteadyR8.jpg - Another view of the steady with the arm off. You can see the two 1" wide slots milled in the steady to accept the arms. They are 1/8" deep. The thread for the 1/4x20 feed rod is in the edge of the steady in the actual aluminum. SteadyR9.jpg - The arms fully retracted for handling a 9" piece of stock. I have other pictures (close ups of the other Atlas accessories) if you're interested. Alas, I do not have plans for any. One of these days soon, I hope to draw them up and make them available to the Atlas guys. (We have to stick together you know!) Even though I now use a Jet (and love it), after owning and using an Atlas for 15 years, you don't get them out of your blood. As a youth pastor (for some 28 years now) I always sign off to my shop buddies with, Chips and Prayers, Mike (January, 2000) Questions? Contact me at: jfendley@heritagecomputers.com By the way, my machine shop is in an old (driveable) 66 passenger, 64 Ford School Bus.