joint work in steady rest vs headstock

D

dendweller

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Before there were the large bore taig style headstocks people that had taig lathes used to do joint work with the joint in a steady rest with a collet. If the steady is centered and you have a good collet I'd think there's very little runout.

One thing I always wondered about with that method is whether or not using the shaft as an axle to spin the joint for drilling and cutting put any undue stress on the shaft.

Wondered if anyone had any opinions on that.
 
I made my first cue butt with a old 40's or 50's sears Dunlap lathe and a home made steady rest. Can't believe the pin came out straight and with an extra Joss shaft rolled straight. The wood was a 2" x 2" hard maple from an old butcher block counter top. I decided never to do that again and then it took me several years to upgrade equipment. Mine was a low budget solution to see if I can and I did, so I would think with a better setup it is possible. It just doesn't seem the best way. I still consider myself a amateur and only make about a half dozen cues a year for now. Hopefully in a couple years when my daughter is out of college I can semi-retire from full time construction with a good retirement hoppy/income I really enjoy.


Robert
 
I tried it with a 4 jaw independent chuck for the steady rest on a Cueman lathe and it definitely seemed like too much stress on the shaft. I’ve had good results with the bearing steady rest and collets though. I can usually get it to within a thousandth or so.
 
Rodney said:
I tried it with a 4 jaw independent chuck for the steady rest on a Cueman lathe and it definitely seemed like too much stress on the shaft. I’ve had good results with the bearing steady rest and collets though. I can usually get it to within a thousandth or so.
Click to expand...
I've had a couple of those, they do have a load on them, probably too much for a shaft for sure. The bearing with a collet seems to have very little.
Thanks for the reply.
 
If you are using an accurate collet in a finger steady, or reasonable quality bearing, or collet in the reasonable quality bearing, as the steady, then geometrically the whole set-up forces the bore to be concentric as possible with the OD at that point. The leaves only dialing in the other end at the chuck so the bore is co-axial with the shaft. The only real potential "gotcha" is that if the steady is off center height or sideways from the lathe centerline, the bore will be tapered. But it has to be off-center more than a few .001's to matter.

I guess what i am saying is that at least with regards to machining, in theory the steady can actually be the superior process without much effort.
But once the steady is bearing on an intermediary (say a collet) that vagary could be a problem depending on the collet's precision and fit. Plus now you probably have a collet at both ends.

I use a 4 jaw chuck on both ends of my headstock, work with the shaft through the bore (Hardinge second-op headstock with the key pin removed), and dial both ends in. so a steady or might be faster for me, if i ever got around to making a full set of accurate collets. :) Or for shafts alone i could probably make (or buy) 5c collets to use direct, rebored for the taper. But a person kind of gets set in their ways because changing is inconvenient at the time it happens.
It's like everything else in craftwork, which is more accurate and which is more convenient depends on the accuracy of your set of tools, and your preferred method of work.

smt
 
Ssonerai said:
If you are using an accurate collet in a finger steady, or reasonable quality bearing, or collet in the reasonable quality bearing, as the steady, then geometrically the whole set-up forces the bore to be concentric as possible with the OD at that point. The leaves only dialing in the other end at the chuck so the bore is co-axial with the shaft. The only real potential "gotcha" is that if the steady is off center height or sideways from the lathe centerline, the bore will be tapered. But it has to be off-center more than a few .001's to matter.

I guess what i am saying is that at least with regards to machining, in theory the steady can actually be the superior process without much effort.
But once the steady is bearing on an intermediary (say a collet) that vagary could be a problem depending on the collet's precision and fit. Plus now you probably have a collet at both ends.

I use a 4 jaw chuck on both ends of my headstock, work with the shaft through the bore (Hardinge second-op headstock with the key pin removed), and dial both ends in. so a steady or might be faster for me, if i ever got around to making a full set of accurate collets. :) Or for shafts alone i could probably make (or buy) 5c collets to use direct, rebored for the taper. But a person kind of gets set in their ways because changing is inconvenient at the time it happens.
It's like everything else in craftwork, which is more accurate and which is more convenient depends on the accuracy of your set of tools, and your preferred method of work.

smt
Click to expand...
Bob DZ has an older video on youtube called accurate collets. Pretty impressive
 
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