Shopsmith Forums

any body else havn't problem with the tool rest moving. Mine doesn't seem to stay put in the carriage. It doens't go up or down, it move sideways (turns round). It's like the teeth are in place, but they move sideways in the teeth.

the teeth look ok, even when I get ugly with it and tighen it far tighter than I would want to, I still get movement.

the movement is in the carriage, not the tool rest upright bar

TIA

This is not an uncommon problem. The post with its rack will rotate slightly even with the height lock fully tightened down. I found that when the arm of the tool rest pointed toward the tail stock, the part of the post in the carriage with the rack would rotate slightly counter clockwise until the pinion in the carriage reached the limit of the rack which would bringthe tool rest closer to the work piece. The solution was to get in the habit of making initial adjustments of the tool rest with it further away from the work piece and using the arm to bump or torque the post until the travel was taken out and then make the final arm and tool rest adjustment. While this worked, I did upgrade to the universal tool rest.

$200 bucks for a UTR--seems like at lot--well built but about 1/3 of the cost of a stand alone lathe.

will try algale trick and see how that works

farley wrote:$200 bucks for a UTR--seems like at lot--well built but about 1/3 of the cost of a stand alone lathe.

will try algale trick and see how that works

But for $600 you would still not have a tool rest banjo as good as the UTR.

so you saying the UTR is quite the cat's meow.

farley wrote:so you saying the UTR is quite the cat's meow.

I may be old but that expression is well before my time.

But I do like the UTR except when I have to lift it. It adds a lot of weight to the base and gives me a lot of flexibility in how I position the tool rest. That combined with modular tool rests with 3/4" and 1" posts allows really getting into deep bowls without vibration.

I too went with the UTR.

However, I did end up with the carriage for a Mark VII that appears to have been modified by the owner. There is a groove ground into the toolpost for the lathe toolrest, and a hole drilled and tapped on the carriage. There is a bolt that goes through the carriage into the toolpost's groove to keep it from turning.

I'm not using that particular toolrest since the Mark VII got parted out and my mark 7 has a 520 carriage on it.

I have the original post that came with with my '55 and its threaded around the entire circumference and always works. I have 2 other newer posts but I always go back to the original, it just never gives me problems.

The tool rest itself will vibrate loose and move a bit so I have to keep an eye on it, but I always know when things are starting to slide a bit. grab the allen wrench, tighten it up and keep turning.

Some day I'll try to get the UTR though as I would like the extra mass and flexibility.

Terry

terrydowning wrote:I have the original post that came with with my '55 and its threaded around the entire circumference and always works... it just never gives me problems.

What he said.