Rubens Ramos Fernandes of Brazil sent these photo and his explanation of how and why he turned his standard P/N 1074 steady rest into a roller steady rest. (Click on any of the images to open a larger 800 pixel wide photo.)
"Feeling uncomfortable with the steady rest brass pads scratching my metal parts, especially because I normally work with soft materials, I decided to try out this modification. It was accomplished with 8 mm (.315") diameter, 4 mm (.157") wide ball bearings having 3 mm (.118") internal holes. The pad tips were first drilled and then milled on a Sherline mill in such a way as to leave a 0.5 mm (.020") clearance at the bottom of the cavity, the ball bearings protruding just 1 mm from the pad end. The axle (brass) was turned just a bit larger than the holes (0.01 to 0.02 mm), enough to stay firmly attached to the ball bearing and pad walls, otherwise we could use force in excess to insert the axle, probably damaging those tiny ball bearings (believe me, I lost one of them). Then, just mill axle ends until level with the pad surface. I didn't use this arrangement extensively yet, but it seems to work nicely - I can't see a reason for not using the same procedure for the follower rest jig."
Rubens Ramos
Campinas, Brazil
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