Shop Fox W1758 - handles stripping

[Rick Prosser]

I purchased, and am learning to turn on the Shop Fox W1758. I am having difficulty with stripping out the handles that tighten the tool rest and extension - especially the handle that is located at the connection of the extension. The screw has a hex (or maybe octagon) head. It is located under the extension arm and is difficult to grab - so I end up pulling/pushing on the very end of the handle and slipping on the screw head, which strips out the handle.:mad: There is a lot of torque at this joint because of the extension, and it needs to be tight to get a solid tool rest. I would prefer not to use the extension, but the base won't get in close enough on smaller work.

Shop Fox has sent a replacement set of handles, but I already stripped out one after a couple hours turning.:(

Anyone else with this problem? Maybe I can replace the screw/handles with a different version - or replace the whole tool rest assembly.

Other than the slowest speed being too fast, this is the only big problem I have found with the lathe. (but I am new and inexperienced)

[Paul Engle]

Rick , one solutiton may be to tap it out to the next larger size and use a socket head ( allen head/wrench) if the casting is too thin go to a finer thread size which will give you more thrds and more metal to work against with the stress lessened by the more threads in the hole ( less stress per thread) . or.... talk with a metal/machine shop to build a steel one with more metal in the boss area of the threaded section. third option is to have a weld shop add some metal around the boss area then retap to next larger size.