Banjo Upgrade

[Bryce Adams]

I have an old Craftsman lathe with a Delta banjo that's secured in place with a bolt. To move the tool rest I need to find the wrench, reach over the workpiece, loosen the bolt, move the tool rest, and tighten it up. I'd like to find a banjo with an eccentric clamp operated with handle from the front side. The lathe can handle 32" between centers, but only has a 9" swing. I've looked at replacement banjos for new lathes, but most of then have 12" to 16" swings so their banjos are higher which would likely be too tall for my lathe.

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Any suggestions on where I might find a banjo that would work on this lathe?

Thanks,

[Roger Chandler]

I would think the Nova [Teknatool] website would have one...........all you need to do is measure the gap between the ways on your lathe, and make sure you get a clamp plate for underneath that is the right size............if they don't have one in stock, then you could have a local machine shop make one up for you ...........likely cheap, as it is just a piece of steel with a hole drilled in it for the bolt, and a rabbit machined on each side to fit ............or just use the clamp plate off your old banjo!

I would also check the Oneway website..........they sell banjos for different size lathes...........that might be your best option........looks like your lathe has about a 10" swing or perhaps 12".........I would try oneway first if it were me.

[charlie knighton]

9 inch swing is strange, it does not look like you will find one, the one on the lathe looks original except for your wood block, unless there is craftman website, the handle to operate the tool rest probably only on newer lathes, you would lose 1 inch of swing at least, if you could invert the bolt and add a wing nut it might be handier but the bolt will have to be the right size

[Bryce Adams]

I found a banjo for a 10" lathe on the Oneway website for $215 which is more than the lathe is worth. I guess I'll keep using what I have until I decide to just buy a new lathe.

[charlie knighton]

if you upgrade, more bell and whistles, you can see turning now what extras you would like, main thing, that the lathe make wood go round mostly

[Hilel Salomon]

I wasn't happy with my DVR banjo and Jeff Nicols built a fantastic one for me. Perhaps you might want to get in touch with him.

Hilel

[Clint Merrill]

Since your lathe is open on the bottom, you might consider an underneath lever to tighten-loosen the banjo, would be easy to make work with a 1/4 turn is all you need. Give it some thought , might be a good solution.

[Paul Williams]

I like the idea of moving the lever to below the bed. Perhaps you could epoxy a wrench to the nut so it would always be connected and ready to work.

[Bryce Adams]

I hadn't thought of a lever below the ways. I'll see if that could work.

Thanks.

[Brad Adams]

I had the exact same lathe until I got my 1642 Jet. I ordered all the parts from Grizzly to put together a banjo. I don't think I had more than $60 in the banjo.
I looked at a 10" lathe parts breakdown and just ordered all the parts. I turned an oak stepped washer for the bottom as the grizzly washer is too small.
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[Bryce Adams]

Brad,

Interesting how you shimmed up the headstock and tailstock. I was thinking that if the only banjo I could find was too high, I might be able to shim up the head and tail stock. I've also been looking at Grizzly parts but didn't know which one would fit the best on this lathe. Thanks for the ideas.

[Michael Poorman]

Bryce,

I replaced the banjo nut with one of these http://www.mcmaster.com/#control-handles/=q4iq9o and the tailstock nut with one of these http://www.mcmaster.com/#control-handles/=q4iqpe

I've been very happy with both of the items. Hope that helps.