Thread: Cheap Scottish option for a travelling rest on a model C Hercus

I've had my old Hercus lathe for about 38 years. When I got it ,the only accessories were a 3 jaw chuck and a full set of gears.<br> Over the years I've collected&nbsp; or made face plates,4 way tool posts and assorted chucks, fixed steady and some tooling. It's become a usefull thing.<br>The one thing I always wanted was a travelling steady and as everyone knows, they are abundant and inexpensive. I could never bring my generous Scottish self to part with so many shekels for such a small thing<br>So about a month ago I decided to make one<br>I started by making a wooden model to give me some dimensions<br>I wanted to make it from steel, namely 1/2" and 3/4" plate. I scrounged the 1/2" from the shed and the 3/4" from Mick Moyles in Sydney together with some brass bar for the support pads.<br>A bit of time with a bandsaw, MIG, and drill got the thing into shape. I bolted it onto the saddle and used tailstock centre and centre drill to mark centre on both sides of the 3/4" plate upright, then marked out maximum working clearance area to be removed as well as horizontal and vertical axis for drilling of support pad screwed holes. I drilled and tapped those holes for 3/8 UNF thread<br>The removal of the waste from the 3/4 plate was an adventure as I don't own a mill It was a character building exercise using a 5" grinder ,drill, hammer and chisel and not to forget the dear old file (minus handle).<br>However it's done , bar a little bit of welding.&nbsp;<br>It is hardly a stylish thing but it is strong and will allow work of up to 42mm to pass through.<br>I commend it to your sense of humour<br>Alan&nbsp;