Tool Rest Failure

[ken gibbs]

Yesterday my one year old tool rest broke right below the horizontal rest. The shaft broke all the way through and thanklfully just hit the floor. The verticle shaft is fabricated from 1" cast iron and tthe cross piece appears to be steel. Has anyone else had this type of failure?

[charlie knighton]

who made the tool rest?

[Barry Elder]

Probably many more of us than will admit it! Operator failure or equipment failure, who knows!

[Don McManus]

Coincidentally, I also broke my 12" rest last week. Mine was all cast iron from a jet 1236.

I was roughing an out of balance blank that was probably too big for my lathe, and way beyond my beginner skill set. Anyway, while the whole lathe was bouncing around, I let the gouge bounce up off of the far left end of the toolrest. The subsequent catch slammed the gouge down into the toolrest, which fractured at the corner gusset near the post.

Naturally, I blamed the cheap, poor quality, cast iron rest. and I was planning to buy a replacement rest with a tool steel top(i.e. one that tools won't dent), but sticker shock is causing me to procrastinate, and just use my 6" rest for now. Tedious, but bearable.

After writing down what happened above, I'm started wonder what component would have failed first, had that toolrest been stronger. Given the alternatives of throwing the blank, snapping the gouge, or injuring the hand holding the gouge, I suppose that the toolrest snapping was the least scary of the possible outcomes.

Don

[Richard Allen]

I have broken a couple over the years. Now when I work larger rough cut pieces I stay closer to the middle of the tool rest. Both rests were replaced free. One was a jet mini and Woodcraft replaced the rest under the then 12 month NQA warenty. The other was a Record Power tool rest wich had a 5 year warenty. I bring this up because your rest may be covered by warenty.

[Bernie Weishapl]

When I first started I broke a 12" tool rest. My fault as I was to close to edge roughing a knarly piece.

[Reed Gray]

I broke the tool rest on my original PM3520A. The rest that came with the lathe was a 16 inch long one. When I called about it, they informed me that it had been a problem, and they sent me a new one that was 12 inches long. It sat about 1/2 inch too high in the banjo, so I called again. Well, they had changed the banjo as well. They sent me a new banjo, which came in pieces over about 2 weeks. When everything was back together, all was fine again. A good 12 inch tool rest should not break, even under pretty serious abuse. Probably from my years of doing concrete construction, but I prefer things to be overbuilt rather than under built. I guess that is the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy.

robo hippy

[Charles Bruno]

Coincidentally, I also broke my 12" rest last week. Mine was all cast iron from a jet 1236.

Naturally, I blamed the cheap, poor quality, cast iron rest. and I was planning to buy a replacement rest with a tool steel top(i.e. one that tools won't dent), but sticker shock is causing me to procrastinate, and just use my 6" rest for now. Tedious, but bearable.

Don

Sticker shock for sure. I too was looking into buying a tool steel rest..but the price a bit steep. Instead I made one of my own, its top is 1" round and the shank it 5/8" to fit my banjo. I machined a flat in the 1" drilled and tapped to 1/2', turned the 5/8" to 1/2" and threaded it to 1/2". I plan on making some longer & some with curves. If you know anyone or have access to a lathe and mill you can save some $$$. I'm all for saving cash when possible.

[Reed Gray]

I have no metal skills other than grinding and driving nails. You can get thicker tube sections (I would want 3/8 to 1/2 inch wall thickness), in different diameters from scrap yards probably. I have also thought about wheel rims. Cut out a section and weld it to a post. It would angle away from the inside of the bowl a bit. Most likely other round or oval forms out there that we haven't come across yet that would work well.

Personally, I just don't like the 1 inch round rod tool rests. Just don't feel right.

robo hippy

[Jim Burr]

I had a "S" curve bowl rest die a violent death on a 1014...bought from CSUSA...just tossed it out. On the 1014 I use stuff from Penturners Products...in 5 years of crap abuse...still works great. On the 1642, I went with the Robust stuff on JK and SS's recommendation since the stock rest on a 1642 is huge and morphed into a monster piece of iron...but it works good for some things. A few more Robust's are in my future. Yeah, they cost a bit, but compare that to a $1500 ER bill...kinda cheap. For a smaller lathe...John's stuff is amazing, modular and expandable...use it every week.

[Jenny Trice]

I broke the banjo on my Jet 1220. Jet replaced it, no questions asked. Good customer service.

[Allen Howell]

I sure would like to get a new tool rest, but I guess I'll wait until I have the extra $$$. No steelworking skills/tools and no broken toolrest