I recently came close to having what could have been a serious accident with the outrigger on my Nova 3000. As I swung the swivel arm, it came crashing to the floor. Fortunately my feet were clear, and I was wearing safety shoes, but this hefty lump of metal could have caused some serious damage if it had landed on a foot.What had happened is that over the years the threaded rod that holds it all together had slowly screwed its way up through the casting which is fixed to the lathe, leaving very little threaded into the lever underneath. So when I loosened the lever, then swung the toolrest around, the lever dropped off, with the toolrest assembly following suit.
In future I will be checking that threaded rod regularly to make sure it is not projecting out of the top of the casting. With hindsight this is pretty obvious.
