Adapting a Larger Steady Rest to the Monarch Part 1 

Watching this video now, I can't help but think "That groove would be a great job for the shaper!"

Awesome project. Really like that you're doing for you this series.

I really get a kick out of re purposing or repairs, and seeing a whole job is fascinating,

Adam . i hope no one is getting sick in your shop your cool mist was blowing snot bubbles....lol ... it is the season ..cant wait to see it completed...thanks man

Awesome, thanks for inviting use in. Steve,

I really like watching your machining projects under way. I learn so much, example like how you used the rod stock bar to measure the final cut. For those of us you only machine as a hobby, this is great tips. Thank you.

Another great series that will be a help to many of us who buy stuff in the hope we can modify it to suit our purpose. I am in the process of cutting down the base of a bigger fixed rest to suit my 9" lathe. The scale looks similar to what you have there. This series will give me some clue's as to what is needed to make it work. regards from the UK

Excellent video. Looking forward to the rest of this project. Thanks for sharing.

Great project to do a video on The big steady rest looks right at home sitting there on the lathe

Gday Adam,Back in the day I had to cut a vee block for a vee belt to grip and all we had was the shaper. Took a bit longer but real easy. Cheers Ross

A larger steady rest will be way better for bigger stock , And parts to be turned ! Great work man ..

Cutting the Vee groove, that is what the little shaper is for...:) Thanks for sharing.

Adam, I really like seeing these new milling projects. Enjoyed part 1! ....13

lol...I like the placement of that "new" Gerstner over there behind the Monarch!....That's a good looking box....you can tell it has been used, but well taken care of!...congrats!

Thank you adam for this vid! when you pulled out that piece of round stock i was really wondering what you were going to use it for, then I went ahhh :) verry smart! i just love simple solutions like that, they´re almost free of variables.. thanx again bud!

I had a friend that worked on heavy machinery in the coal mines that had a "saying" when he was done with a job. Here's what he would say, "well boys that's good enough for the women we run around with." Enjoyed the video.

Thanks for sharing this project. I have been meaning to do nearly the same thing for some time. It sure helps to see your setup and process.

Great project and good coverage on all the steps. Enjoyed :) Z

thanks Adam, you just solved another problem for me. been trying to find a steady rest for my 19" leblonde.

That stepped sizer thingy is the bomb!

Adam Good one, keeping it simple as we say. Cheers Bruce

Hey Adam, Great start on the mount for your steady rest. Now that you've finished that part, it's time for you to have some "steady rest"! LOL Thanks for sharing, Adam! Great work as always! Have a good one! Dave

DESDE MEXICO PUEBLA VEMOS TUS SERIE Y ES EXCELENTE

Good Morning Adam Great video ! cant wait for part two probably lose sleep over it till its out LOL

I think the best application I have seen for those stepped cone shanks for multi sized collets is when used in combination with a coax indicator, especially in a cnc lathe for indicating in ID tools. I have been meaning to make one for use at work but havent had the time, gotta machine it really carefully on the best machine you can find for better accuracy down the road while indicating.

nice looking little project adam

Hello Adam! I've been watching Keith Fenner's videos for a long time and I really enjoy watching them. I keep updating his youtube page to see if there's any new videos. Now I found your channel and I'm enjoying your videos as much as his, you both do your job with great accuracy, expertise and make a good videos out of it. I'm an automotive engineer myself and I love watching this stuff. Keep up good work! Regards from the Finland

Neat stuff Adam.

Great video Adam full of excellent instruction and set up. On the side I noticed that there were three thumbs down, what the hell do these people want beats the hell out of me. thanks again Jeff

Awesome vid. I have been wanting to do this with a larger tail stock. Thanks

Hi Adam ! Nice project and right on time for me ... I'm doing one for my lathe too and am now a little stucked because lack of a 90° cutter but I have one like the one you're using ... so ! I have a little more problems finding out how deep to go because I have no model to take some measurements on like you can ! ... now I need to go on that project ! Thx for starting me up again !

Just like James and the rest us I need to create a larger one also. My 4.5" capacity, doesn't cut it all the time, like to see 10" if possible. Been saving some materials and stocked the rollers, now just waiting for it to hit the front of the project priority line up! LOL Cheers, ;{)-----

Thanks Adam, You've reminded me of one more project for my 12" Logan lathe - make a steady rest... I figure to use a profile / contour gauge to figure out the dimensions of the inverted V shaped ridge on my ways... There *should* be an inexpensive "donor" rest out there on ebay or Craig's List - I just haven't found it - yet... I may be looking at building one from scratch - kinda tricky when I've not got much in the way of a milling machine (SIEG X2 minimill)... Yep, one more thing on my wish list... Cheers, Eric

That was interesting Adam. I have to do a similar thing, but I have to build the whole steady rest to take about 12 inches of hollow cold rolled bar for a press. My old lathe will only take 4 inches diameter on its steady rest. So I have taken note of how you milled that ninety degree slot.

I went to Logan Lathes for one of theirs and only had to make a new under way block. The top matched nicely. Used it once. The lathe use is up and down through the years - machine always was ready to be used, I had to change the belt only. I want to change the power cable but I'll likely do that this fall. It is need that moves on / off.

Man, love the surface finish you get on the mill at work. You could almost use it as a mirror to shave!

Abom79 - You mention that you have "looked on eBay several times" to find the steady rest that you wanted. Hopefully you know that you can remember searches in eBay and have them send you when the item shows up for sale. This becomes really useful when looking for a rare item that is seldom seen.

adam good job.

I think if I didn't want to set it up in the mill again I would at least use a flap wheel with a grinder to give that v way a bit more clearance. I would rather have it a bit loose than be prying on the ways when the steady is tightened down. I just saw the right steady for your lathe sell on ebay a week or so ago for like $70 wish I had known you were looking for one!

Hi Adam, And it will still be usable on the Monarch, just by taking off the extra parts... Great idea, Pierre

Nice project Adam! It was cool seeing the adapter Gill made for you. I guess you didn't get the pics of the one I made for a guy in NJ. Looks like Gill made his out of Aluminum. Yes? Like you, I've been searching for a steady for my little 8" Southbend with no luck! I think I might have to build one from scratch! That'll be a project for sure!!!! Thanks Adam, Razor!

Your cool mister is blowing bubbles there . Ha Ha

This is so koool, Adam just might be working on a machine that very well have preformed tooling for the WW2 war effort that started for the U.S.A. on December 7th. 1941....

Looks good so far Adam nice surface finish on the block I was going to ask what you used but then I saw the still at the end. That adapter Gill made for you is slick going to have to make one for my edge finder.

You should have said something adam, I had a big 18" ATW lathe I am looking to get rid of, It has a steady rest that came with it and it pretty large. I would have made a deal with you for it. I wish I knew you wanted one

Great 👍

At 19:15 you can see that the DoAll mill is sleeping, cute.

It's interesting how the wide angle lens on your GoPro throws my eyeball calibration way off. It looked to me that you had a 3/4 inch block under the large steady rest and that the flat on the small one's V groove was 3/8'. I thought the Monarch's V was 3/4 wide, too. All wrong. Another interesting video, as always.

The big steady certainly looks more fitting to the Monarch. Nice project. Haven't seen a cutter quite like that one either,,, must be an oldie? Colin ;-)

That mister looks like a snot bubble!

Adam, New subscriber here. I found your channel about 2 to 3 weeks ago and I must say, I just couldn't tune away. I have just finished up watching all 208 post to date "Unless I miss counted" From all the ups & downs and all your great work in between. So, I just had to say Hello! & Thank you. Its really inspiring to see a Great Craftsmanship at work but also your Passion you put in to everything, Its almost hard to see which shines brighter. Your finished jobs or your love of Fabrication work. I just had a few questions. Are you going to make two bottom clamps for the new Larger Monarch Steady Rest? One for the small Steady that doesn't fit well. Also, When you and your buddy Paul are finish the Hydraulic Session series."Which I liked" Are we going to see our new found knowledge put to work on Troubleshooting the K&T Hydraulic Knee? Again, Thank you so much for the Great Video Post. Keep them coming.

Great video, thanks for sharing! This 90 degree cutter looks very useful. How are you securing your vise to the mill table when it's in the "normal" position, no toe clamps I guess? Did you indicate it to be parallel to your axis, or just aligned it by eye with the help of a t slot? And another question: when do you use a 4 flute milling cutter, and when a 2 flute one? Can you use a "normal" milling cutter to face mill? Or is it only usable for side milling? I guess I could need a milling basics 101 :D so much to learn... Thanks! Phil

I am sort of in the same predicament. I just bought a Clausing 5914 and it came with no steady rest. Though you CAN find them, I am wondering if its easier to either build one like Keith Fenner did for his Clausing or buying one off Ebay and adapting it. Only issue is the 70° way angle.

Nice to see some machining. Why would you not recess the top of the riser block by 1/8" to get the steady rest "on centre".

Hello Adam! Great video! Can you show how the edge finder works in some video? I most be dumb how not understand😯 Have a nice day! George

G'day, I have been watching some of your vids & find I have picked up some very handy ideas that are very handy to know. The stepped holder for your edge finder is a "rippa", such a simple idea that is so good. Thanks, I'm making one ASAP ! It looks like ally, is that what it is ? Cheers Pedro...

It was really hard to see that mist cooler blow ‘snot bubbles’ without remembering my newborn sheep! 🤮👀😂

Good work. Do you know proper name for that 90 deg cutter, I ebayed taper mill & cone mill but nothing with that big of a angle came up. It would be useful in making carriage stop/indicator holder, (and other accessories I have in mind) I did the 45 deg fixture set up and a 1/2" mill to cut the last one I made but it was kind of a kludged setup. Will probably get a better idea how to do this when you cut the top notch for the key. Thank you for teaching us hobby guys how the PROs do things.

Why wouldnt you have set the block in a vise at 45 degrees and used a center cutting end mill to cut the V? Cut the relief before or after?

And the next project it will include that big faceplate. Are you doing an welding table Adam?

Very nice work Adam! I'm curious, are you planning on cleaning up that Stedy Rest? Perhaps it's time to media blast it and repaint it while you're at it... I'm also curious what treatment (if any) you plan on doing to the new support block to prevent it from rusting? Black Oxide might be a cool project?

Good morning Adam! Nice description/instruction on the design, setup and milling! Curious...are you going to change the pins to wheels for riding on the part? ATB Chuck

i dont think its your reflection but outside of your window i can see something moving.

Hey Adam, what are you using in your cool mist system? Am I correct in thinking that it's okay to just use water. Keep the videos coming. All the very best from Australia. Ethan

What's your air compressor setup?, Have you made a video of it yet?, Thanks!

I'm just wondering why you didn't cut that v way on the shaper?

There is a steady rest for a Monarch on Ebay right now. 23 3/8"

Adam, the V mill that you used is it what is called a Bevel cutter? I just finished building from scratch a steady rest for my small lathe and used a 1" piece of Aluminum to get around the problem of not having the proper cutter.

nice work, Dose the steel not scratch the way`s? wouldent have been better using castiron?

what happened to the steady rest you have found for the monarch?

I must be dumber than mud as I still don't know how to use or even know what to use an edge/Centre finder, I watch you use it and it still don't make sense to me. I don't have one or know if I need one as I have a small setup and lay my measurements onto the surface, so not sure if it helps or not.

Adam, was that ninety degree cutter cutting on both sides of the slot or was it cutting just one side at a time?

The rest that came with my 13x40 lathe is way too small... Less than 2" capacity. Sucks.

Do you ever use engineers blue? I've just never seen you use it. Mark

Can't you swap the plates? then you can use the small one on the Victor

For some reason my lathe with 10” clearance came with 2 darling wee 3” steady rest!?!? ...RIGHT?! I mean ‘WHY THE #@!! EVEN BOTHER! It’s not like it’s a mini-lathe. I can order a 10” steady rest for $1655.00....on second thought...I think I now understand the point!...

Adam, sorry to be a pain, but would you be able to post a photo or two about the tool here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eDAdftrj3Nk.html at 8:00 in on facebook, or make a video, which you prefer, because I keep seeing it and I just don''t have any idea what it is...

More machining, woohoo! I see you responding to comments, find anything at the flea market?