need help finding a steady rest.

[Ernest]

Hello all and thanks in advance for any replies.
I have an old lathe. It is made by central machinery and the model number is 1-9000. The face plate says ;Made in Taiwan 1986-9. I have internet searched and can't find anything on this model. The gap between the ways is 3.00 inches.

Does anyone have and idea about how I can order a steady rest and follow rest for this lathe?

[Frank46]

Does your lathe have any upside down "Vee's"?. Not trying to sound funny but if your lathe just has flat ways instead of a combination of vees and flats you should be able to maybe use a southbend steady. My jet has the combination vees and flats and was looking for a larger steady as the one that came with it will only do about 2 3/4". Frank

[akraven]

Central Machinery is Harbor Freights brand name. Might be worth giving them a call and see if they can help. What size is it? Many of the standard sizes are very similar between companies. If Harbor Freight doesn't work you could try calling Grizzly and talk to them since many parts interchange.

[Ernest]

It does have v ways on both sides. I will try calling Grizzly. Thanks

[Ernest]

Boy have you ever tried to talk with tech support for Horror Freight:?

[leftiye]

I got a used one off of eVil bAy for my lathe. It didn't fit, but I made an adaptor to go between the steady and the ways.

[Ernest]

I saw an article about making your own steady rest. didn't look to complex

[akraven]

Boy have you ever tried to talk with tech support for Horror Freight:?

Only once and believe it or not it went really well. They looked up what I was looking for (the steady rest) found the right numbers and got it in the mail to me. I know they have a history of problems but it is worth a try.

[Ernest]

I'll try again thanks for the reply

[akraven]

I'll try again thanks for the reply

Good luck. It sounds like a smaller lathe like maybe a 9 x 20? If so then you can check out the Yahoo 9 x 20 group as they specialize in that lathe and have lots of knowledge about it.

[oldred]

It really don't take much to make a steady rest and you can make a much better one than the dinky thing that came with it, that is even if you find one.