Broken Banjo on my lathe

[keith zimmerman]

Help. I broke the banjo for my toolrest today. I had a major catch and bang! off it came.

Problem is, my lathe in an old Sears 12x36 two tube and the part is no longer available.

If I remember, cast iron cannot be fixed, can it? I would think it would be weak at that point, even if it could be fixed.

Am I out of luck? Do I have to replace the lathe?

Any help would be great.

keithz

[Bob Lasley]

Keith,

Cast iron can be welded if it is done properly. Find a good welder who has experience with cast iron and they should be able to get you going again.

Bob

[Tom Sweeney]

Cast iron can be welded - you should heat it up first then carefully lay on the weld - best left to a good welder - I've done it before with mixed results.

I'm not sure how much "stress" this banjo is under but if you can't find a good welder I would try to epoxy it back together with J&B weld - before throwing it out. Just put it on both pieces & clamp them together somehow. I once bored out an aluminum Vega :rolleyes: motor to put new cast iron sleeves in it. I don't know what happened but one of the cylinders was bored out a little too big (supposed to be a press fit) so I smeared J&B weld all over & forced the cylinder into the bore. The J&B weld actually tried to push the sleeve up & it got hot also. I put the motor back together & no problems - Good stuff.

[Michael Cody]

Keith, you might be able to look at other lathes for parts. The RIGID is a direct knockoff of the old Sears 12x36 -- it's made by Emerson who probably made your lathe. I would seriously check it out.

Also those old sears lathes are all over, I bet you could find another one real easy.. or maybe it's trying to tell you it's time to upgrade ...