Smooth Sliding Banjo

[John Gornall]

I was smoothing the bottom of an old plane and as I stroked it on the Norton paper on my granite plate I started looking at my lathe thinking about the banjo being hard to move at times. I took the banjo apart and honed the bottom of the casting. Started at 100 grit and worked through to 400 grit. Used the Dremel to take off the sharp edges. Waxed the new surface and reinstalled on the lathe. Amazing difference. I'm going to hone the bottom of the tailstock next and then thinking about turning the granite over and running it back and forth on the ways.

[Bill Stevener]

Hi John,
Attention to the tool rest slide is always in order. One must be cautious of excess removal of material on the tail stock, as well as on the ways, as this may cause a misalignment between the head stock and the tail stock, in both the X and the Y axises. A little JPW will go a long way.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Kent Cori]

Depending on how difficult it is to move your tail stock, you may just want to leave it as is. While a very smooth, slick bottom will help when you want to move it, it is a liability when you want to have it clamped in place. At that point, friction is your friend.

A smooth, polished banjo base, however, is a different issue since it does not have to withstand the same lateral forces that the headstock and tailstock see.