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Dana
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2024
PROS: Universal mount, even fits my anti lathe rail areas, very thick and solid metal mounts, bolts, arm, and 1 inch diameter long slide rod, works for almost any reasonable diameter object from small to large, easy to set up and adjust, seems to stay in place well if sufficiently tightened. CONS: Bearings are nylon to be non-marring which is great, but, will probably wear out fairly fast (material use dependent), they also seem a bit hard to initially spin, but loosen once up to speed, unknown top speed rating, but, I don't turn real fast...Overall great value for a very useful addition to your lathing tools, would make a great gift too! Enjoy!
LG in NC Mountains
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2024
The only documentation is an exploded parts diagram, but it is easy to figure out.The unit comes in three main assemblies. The base plate and locking plate attach to the lathe bed. The main post screws into the base plate, and the upper arm assembly slips over the top of the post. Assembly took just a few minutes. Most of that time was spent looking for a couple of wrenches. You need a 5/8" (16mm) wrench to secure the base to the lathe bed and a 7/8" (22mm) wrench to tighten the post into the base. You'll need to keep the smaller wrench handy to install and remove the steady rest.The metal parts are thick steel. The base plate is 1cm thick, and the other metal parts are 1/4". The overall impression is that this is very robust. This unit arrived with one of the rollers overtightened, but loosening it slightly allowed it to turn smoothly. Overall "fit and finish" are very good. There are no sharp edges, threads are accurately cut, and hardware quality is good.The post extends 9 3/8" above the base plate. This works well for my Jet 1840 lathe which has a bed to spindle center distance of just over 9". For a larger lathe, some adaptation may be required.The rollers are mounted into a jaw mechanism with two rollers on the top and one on the bottom. It looks like you can flip the assembly over so that there are two on the bottom, but the ad shows the paired rollers on the top. The paired rollers are mounted on a single plate so their separation is fixed.Adjustment of roller positions is easy. The main adjustment is adjusting the jaw opening. The plate on which the paired rollers are mounted can be easily rotated, so all rollers contact the workpiece.The jaw mechanism does limit the diameter of the workpiece to about 3 inches. The product description indicates this produce is aimed a long spindles. If you need a steady rest for turning large vases, this is probably not a good solution, but for spindles, this will help reduce vibration and "whipping."A small complaint is that the threaded end of the post extends very slightly beneath the base plate, so it could scratch the lathe bed. As a practical matter, that part of the base plate is well outboard of the lathe bed, but it could be an issue during adjustment.All in all, this is well-suited to purpose, well-made, and a good value.
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