Steady Bowl Rest Works Great!

[Ron Ford]

I'm sure many of you have made or used a steady bowl rest from time to time, but if you haven't done so, I'd absolutely recommend using one on those longer pieces supported only at the headstock. Deep bowls and pepper mills are obvious candidates. After having a few pieces tend to 'whip' at the unsupported end, I searched for plans on the web and saw several different ones. The one that caught my eye and bought for $4.95 is the one offered by Rob Sheffield at Sheffield Woodturning (http://www.sheffieldwoodturning.com). The plans were clear and well defined, and I found the few hours it took to make the tool very worthwhile.

Here is a picture of the one I made mounted on my Jet 1642. It really made working the deep bowl easy to work on!

bowlsteadyonjet.jpg

[Mike Cruz]

Looks good, Ron! More than I'd like to tackle, especially because I have 10 such projects that I "should" be doing already, but haven't gotten to...

[Dennis Nagle]

I am right in the middle of building one too. I like your design. Good job.

[Greg Just]

I need to make one too. It's on my to do list and I plan to make one like you did. Nice job.

[Eric Gourieux]

I agree. A steady rest is very useful. You did a good job on yours. I'm curious about the long-neck light. What is it and where did you get it? Do you like it?

[Ron Ford]

Thanks for the compliment on my steady rest, Eric. The light is a KJR Woodturners LED Work Lamp from Craft Supplies USA. It has a magnetic base that gives you a lot of flexibility in placing it. The only thing I'm not too happy with is that the light itself is just a little too focused. I'd like it better if it lit up a somewhat larger area.

Ron

[Mike Cruz]

Looks nice. But at $70, I'll have to pass...

[Jack Gaskins]

I'm sure many of you have made or used a steady bowl rest from time to time, but if you haven't done so, I'd absolutely recommend using one on those longer pieces supported only at the headstock. Deep bowls and pepper mills are obvious candidates. After having a few pieces tend to 'whip' at the unsupported end, I searched for plans on the web and saw several different ones. The one that caught my eye and bought for $4.95 is the one offered by Rob Sheffield at Sheffield Woodturning (http://www.sheffieldwoodturning.com). The plans were clear and well defined, and I found the few hours it took to make the tool very worthwhile.

Here is a picture of the one I made mounted on my Jet 1642. It really made working the deep bowl easy to work on!

bowlsteadyonjet.jpg

Hi Ron, nice rest but I noticed your mag lite attached to your lathe, where did you purchase the light? Been looking for something like that. Thanks.

[Ron Ford]

Hi Jack - The light is a KJR Woodturners LED Work Lamp from Craft Supplies USA. It has a magnetic base that gives you a lot of flexibility in placing it. The only thing I'm not too happy with is that the light itself is just a little too focused. I'd like it better if it lit up a somewhat larger area. To be honest, I'm planning to find something more useful and probably reassign this light to my bandsaw where a more concentrated light may be a better fit. Also, it is not inexpensive at about $70. I'd recommend that you keep on looking.

Here is a copy of a posting John Keeton did a week or two ago. I'm probably going to work on doing something similar on my Jet 1642 EVS, and assume you could adapt the design to fit most any lathe. Hope this helps.


Ron



08-18-2013, 12:21 PM

John Keeton
Moderator


Join DateOct 2007LocationCentral KYPosts14,953


Lighting setup for the Jet 1642

A couple of weeks ago, Jay Yoder posted this thread about articulated lighting setups for the lathe. I had been wanting to improve my system, and Jay's thread prompted me to find a couple of gooseneck lights on the bay. Temporarily, I rigged up a wood bar for the lights as I was hosting a turning club gathering and wanted them up for that. At the meeting, Jamie Donaldson suggested I adapt the "cage" that comes with the Jet 1642 to replace the wood bar. Great idea! I took the Sawzall, and removed the bar from the cage, ground off the nubs, drilled a couple of holes, threw on some white paint (didn't have any appliance white - better match?)

Works great. Schlumpf thought there might be some interest in seeing some pics, so here they are!

I still need to work on getting my lighted magnifier and DC hose re-situated, but all in due time!

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