I did not get any banjos to hold the toolrest for my Oliver lathe I bought last year so I decided to make a couple. I have the toolrest adapter that goes on the cross slide but wanted a couple of bajos to allow a long toolrest. I found one on the West coast but it was pricey and shipping would be a killer.
I recently purchased an import milling machine and wanted to try it out so this was a good first project.
Here is a couple of pics milling the bottom releif so it will set flat on the ways of the lathe.
Then I turned it over and milled a 3/4" slot for the hold down bolt. Bar is 1 1/2" thick x 4" wide.
After that I welded a 2 1/2" x-heavy pipe coupling onto the bar and on top of that I welded a tapered piece of solid steel. The tapered piece was found in local scrap pile, I beleive they were pipe plugs for a boiler.
After welding them on I had the machine shop where I work to drill 1 1/2" hole all the way through the solid portion for the tool rest post. Still need to drill and tap for a bolt to clamp the post in. I would guess these to weigh about 40# each.
Still need to weld a cover pass on the one on the left and grind it down.
My first time at using a milling machine. After cutting the 3/4" slot through 1 1/4" steel I wished it had powerfeed!
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