The fixed steady can be used to support work that is long. Small diameter work is best pushed into the headstock tube so the operator can work near the chuck, but if the diameter is too large, the fixed steady can be used.
The method shown here assumes the bar is reasonably straight. This allows the fixed steady to set up near to the chuck and then transferred to the far end of the bar to provide support for the machining operations.
In this example, a 300mm piece of 3/4" steel bar needed to be centre-drilled in both ends.
To start, the bar was clamped in the 3-jaw chuck.
The fixed steady can then be clamped to the lathe bed as near to the chuck as possible.
Then the lower two supporting fingers can be pushed into the bar to touch with the lightest pressure you can set.
Then the top of the fixed steady can be secured and the top contact finger also adjusted to touch with light pressure. It is worth turning the chuck by hand to ensure there is no scraping.
With the contact fingers locked in position, the whole steady can be released from its position near the chuck and slid down to the unsupported end on the bar.
With some grease added on the contact area, the end of the bar can now be faced off and centre-drilled. The other end can also be prepared in the same way, by flipping the bar over, without changing any of the settings.
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