Today on the drawing board (3 wheel steady rest)
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:05 am
I had some time this evening and proceeded to draw up an idea for a 3 wheel steady rest that would work on a shopsmith.
This is the general idea:
In general the unit would be made of 3/4" plywood. Two layers for the upper part with one of the faces cut for t-track. The lower side has two outside supports to give a good base for it to set on the tubes. The parts are split so a wing nut/knob from below would tighten it in place. The 4 layers on the tubes would be just short of 3" of support.
The wheels are those from a kick scooter and are 3-7/8" dia. and 15/16 wide. The axle would be 5/16" which also works for the Rockler t-track. With those wheels and no off set the smallest stock that will fit is about 9/16" diameter.
The largest is about 8" but this could be smaller/larger if I could think of a good reason to do so. Like wise it could do smaller stock if you off set the wheels which could be done..... Or if you reduced the size of the wheels.
Right now it is 16" wide and 17-1/16" tall. Without having used one of these I'm thinking that this should be stout enough but that is an unknown. It has to be reasonably stiff to absorb the load so this is my best guess.
I have way to many projects going but I though I'd put this out here for comments and see what happens. This is a first cut so expected me to play with several ideas over the next few days time permitting. Never the same design as the first days try happens but you need a starting point.
Ed
This is the general idea:
- ScreenHunter 66.jpg (65.34 KiB) Viewed 7271 times
The wheels are those from a kick scooter and are 3-7/8" dia. and 15/16 wide. The axle would be 5/16" which also works for the Rockler t-track. With those wheels and no off set the smallest stock that will fit is about 9/16" diameter.
The largest is about 8" but this could be smaller/larger if I could think of a good reason to do so. Like wise it could do smaller stock if you off set the wheels which could be done..... Or if you reduced the size of the wheels.
Right now it is 16" wide and 17-1/16" tall. Without having used one of these I'm thinking that this should be stout enough but that is an unknown. It has to be reasonably stiff to absorb the load so this is my best guess.
I have way to many projects going but I though I'd put this out here for comments and see what happens. This is a first cut so expected me to play with several ideas over the next few days time permitting. Never the same design as the first days try happens but you need a starting point.
Ed