Lathe Steadies

Thanks Chris. There seems to be some sort of problem at onetel, the address is correct. Mail generally gets through but not always.

I did try them for a CVA steady a few months ago, when they first started putting that in their ad, but no good. I must admit I haven't asked them about DSG steadies, though. I have had what seems to be a bit of luck, though. I've bought a couple of steadies from ebay which were about the right CH for the CVA thinking they could probably be adapted without too much trouble. In practice neither was really suitable for that, but one was for a 13" DSG. I was surprised to find that it drops straight onto the bed of my

17", it 'just' needs to be chopped off its base and an extra 2 1/2" height introduced. In fact I've seen pics of steadies for the 17" which are clearly made to the same, modified, pattern. Not a five minute job, but We have the Technology. I might even have a go at that tomorrow. I'll need a steady for one of my first jobs with the DSG. I took my first cuts with it today, chucked up a bit of scrap 2 1/4" dia EN8, took 1/2" off the dia in one cut without a murmur. I couldn't lay my hands straight away on the 'right' tool or would have tried going deeper.

Thanks again

Tim

Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service

On or around Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:38:50 +0000, Chris Edwards enlightened us thusly:

and we know why he wants steadies for a DSG.

would it be rude to ask how much it cost?

When I was hunting a lathe a noted the odd one or two DSGs on eBay.

(snip)

Ye Gods! --

Chris Edwards (in deepest Dorset) "....there *must* be an easier way!"

The lathe or the steady? Yes it's rude, but I'll tell you anyway.

The lathe cost me 500 quid, but (a) it was from someone I know (b) it's the older type with the chuck on a 4-bolt flange instead of D8 Camlock (c) there were some little bits & pieces needing sorting.

On the plus side (a) it's got the roller bearing spindle so has speeds from 13 rpm to

1300 (that's high for a DSG of this vintage) (b) it's got taper turning. That's the biggest single reason for going to all the trouble of changing lathes. Boat propellors are fitted onto a taper, it soon gets tedious doing them using the compound slide, especially if they're longer than the compound travel. (c) the spindle bore will pass 2 1/2". That's the biggest dia of prop shaft ever (to my knowledge) found on Narrow Boats. The TOS I had before would only take 2", anything bigger had to be done over the bed which could be a real pain especially if the shaft was more than the BC length of the lathe.

Cheers Tim

Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service

Nice little lathe :-)

Mark Rand RTFM

On or around Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:28:54 +0000, Tim Leech enlightened us thusly:

lathes - they're not common though.

still, good price, I reckon - the word is that it's among the better lathes out there.

The other day there were a couple of Colchester Mascots on eBay, but considerably more money than that.