I built a center steady years ago. It works fine, however the wheels I used (white) were used on shower doors. No bearings. Wheels hard plastic. They worked fine, but I kept my eyes open for wheels with bearings at a good price. I found some at Amazon. They are made for printer mechanisms. They do have bearings and (not as) hard plastic wheels. I added them to my old center steady. I have NOT tried them yet, but I can not see any reason why they won't work. The one dimension I wish was smaller is the 3/8"  wheel thickness. They were really cheap 5 for $7

 I set the two spares down with the ruler.

 

 

BIQU Big Plastic Pulley Wheel with Bearing Idler Pulley Gear Perlin Wheel for 3D Printer (Pack of 5 pcs)

Visit the BIQU Store

4.4 out of 5 stars    56 ratings

 

| 3 answered questions

Price:$6.99  & FREE Returns

Outer Diameter: 23.89mm

Inner Diameter: 5mm

Hight: 10.23mm

Net Weight: 14g/pcs

Color: Black

 

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FJHZ42M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited January 9, 20215 yr by Ron Altier
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Great idea!  I found some at Lowe’s years ago when our shower door needed replacements. 

I used roller blade wheels . Git the skates for $4 at mission store. Used the better one as sone were really worn.

I have one I made similar to Geralds. 

 

 

I found that for spindles two wheels work just a well but are easier to use.

 

 

I hadn't been able to check out my center steady until yesterday. It worked very well, except the new bearings made an unexpected noise. My thoughts were that that they were made for  slow rotation like a printer would have and may not hold up to long if I have a long lasting project. Not really a problem, I haven't used my center steady for over a year. 

 

To be continued next year or so

1 hour ago, Ron Altier said:

It worked very well, except the new bearings made an unexpected noise.

 

Your bearings look the same as what is in the wheels.  The smaller they are the faster they spin and the noisier they are.  The same bearings are on my band saw guides and are noisy there too.

 

Diameter   Circumference

     1"              3.14"

     3"              9.425"

     4"              12.566"

Edited January 13, 20215 yr by HandyDan