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.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting this. I will have to make sure I also check this when I get my outrigger.
I find the outrigger to be basically useless, as it vibrates under load. I've considered an floor brace under the outrigger to stiffen the assembly, similar to a VB lathe, but haven't tried it yet. Thanks for the safety update.
The outrigger does make a handy spot to attach a tool tray, however.
I have problems when trying to use the McNaughton center saver, and have considered some sort of brace underneath it too.
But for regular turning I find it perfectly satisfactory. I'm currently roughing out bowl blanks upto about 14" diameter with no problems, and have done bigger ones in the past.
Is it flexing the outrigger, or is the lathe moving too? I have my lathe on a heavy bench which is 26" wide, so there is plenty of leverage to counter the overhang of the outrigger.
Useless? Oh no - certainly not! It is a handy holder for all sorts of things. Let's see from the lathe out...my chuck key (sits in a convenient hole), MT adapters (in the slot), air hose, and the latest use - it holds the control center for my vac system which is mounted on a board which is in turn mounted on a steel tool post that fits the outrigger. :) I will keep an eye on that rod though.
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