Laguna banjo and modular toolrest

[JGregJ]

Purchased a modular tool rest for my Laguna 15|24 lathe. Was disappointed to find that the post didn't tighten up easily. The new post is (1in x 5in) is 0.016 in smaller in diameter than the original (0.9775 vs 0.9935). I was able to tighten it up with a little extra effort on the crank and it held well, however, this made it difficult to reinstall the original rest. I was able to pry the opening back into position so the original rest works OK and as workaround I just put a turn or two of painters tape around the new post so it tightens up w/o having to do excessive tightening.

While I can find some fault in the new rest, I'm disappointed in how Laguna designed the banjo since it's in effect trying to squeeze together the cast iron material and after it's compressed, it doesn't spring back. Anyone else have similar experiences trying to get 3rd party rests working with the Laguna Banjos? I'm trying to understand if this low-cost modular rest was substandard, or is the laguna design just poor and likely to have problems with other rests as well.

I'm also debating if I can live with this 'tape' workaround or if I should return it and look for better fitting rest - I suspect the tape will occasionally be a hassle and need to be replaced, but I don't see any obvious reasons it would be unsafe or have any potential to do damage to my banjo.

 

[Berta]

The original rest still works ok? I would return it. If I purchased something I was not pleased with, I would return it.

 

[mkepke]

I'm with Berta. Laguna should know better. There are a lot of other makers of modular rests so you have options.

The banjo's design - compressing the halves of the socket - is not one I've seen much on banjos, but it's a pretty common design for say, clamping the tailstock ram. The downside, as you found, is it does not accommodate much deviation from the nominal diameter.

The typical post locking method is a bolt directly impinging on the shaft of the the toolrest - but its a pretty poor method as the contact area is so small. At least Laguna is trying to improve on that. I think more modern Powermatics use a bolt with some sort of v-block to increase the clamping area.

-Mark

 

[rcarmac]

The only one that I have found to work is the one at Penn State Industries. However, I still have to make at least a quarter turn more than the stock rest to get it tight. I saw Laguna has added an 8” rest that you can buy. But I have returned a couple after market tests that didn’t work. I saw somewhere that people had good experience with the Robust tool rest

 

[wndopdlr]

Robust tool rests are awesome. They use a hardened steel rod on top where the tool impacts the rest and the action is very smooth. Way better in my opinion than a cast iron rest.

You can call Robust direct-you usually get the owner or his wife- and find out what the manufacturing tolerances on their rest posts are.

 

[JGregJ]

Thanks everyone for the input - story has happy ending. I got a 2nd part from the vendor and it fits perfectly, so I think they just shipped the wrong part. The first was a 25MM post, while the Lagnua requires a 1in - turns out that 0.4 mm makes a big difference...