Sticky Banjo

[Robbo3]

Visiting a beginner who bought a second hand Axminster AWVSL1000 lathe, he couldn't move the banjo. It had been removed from the lathe for carriage & then re-attached.
I stripped it down & cleaned out the bolt that dangles from the cam rod, giving the hole a once over with some abrasive just to make sure there were no burrs. This improved things a bit but we had to keep slackening the clamp nut to allow movement.
Base of banjo was clean & flat & slid smoothly on its own.
The hole is almost egg shaped with the small end riding on the cam rod. Didn't have any lubricant but not sure it should be needed anyway.
So what am I missing? Any ideas please?

 

[CHJ]

Some of the castings on that pattern of lathe are a little less than perfect on the underside of the bed. On my old perform I had to fit an oversized wooden collar to the adjustment nut to allow easier additional bolt length setting to get correct cam clamping when moving the banjo.

 

[Robbo3]

Sorry, I should have said that the banjo won't move forwards & backwards without the nut underneath being very loose, too loose for the cam to lock.
The cam rod looks ridged but is quite smooth when you run your fingers along it.
I may have to get the owner to bring it over so that I can get a better look in my own workshop.
I have told him to contact Axminster for their advice.

 

[Lazurus]

If I recall correctly when I had mine, the collar needs to be in a certain rotation to work correctly.

 

[minilathe22]

If the hole is egg shaped, then perhaps the amount of "lift" that the bolt gets is no longer sufficient to be slack enough to move when in the lower position, and then raise enough to be securely clamped.

I believe the hole should be round when new? With the nut removed, and you rotate the handle from minimum to maximum height, how much higher does the end of the bolt lift?

 

[TopCat 32]

Visiting a beginner who bought a second hand Axminster AWVSL1000 lathe, he couldn't move the banjo. It had been removed from the lathe for carriage & then re-attached.
I stripped it down & cleaned out the bolt that dangles from the cam rod, giving the hole a once over with some abrasive just to make sure there were no burrs. This improved things a bit but we had to keep slackening the clamp nut to allow movement.
Base of banjo was clean & flat & slid smoothly on its own.
The hole is almost egg shaped with the small end riding on the cam rod. Didn't have any lubricant but not sure it should be needed anyway.
So what am I missing? Any ideas please?

I had exactly the same problem with my AWVSL 1000 from new didn't know it was supposed to slide so smoothly till i visited a axminster store and tried one on display, so i contacted axminster after sales and they were so helpful, said they thought it was the cam rod that went through the egg shaped hole and would send me a new rod FOC as lathe was only 18 months old, 2 days later a whole new Banjo assembly turned up , no more loosening nut to adjust banjo after that, maybe if in warranty contact axminster after sales service is brilliant

 

[Robbo3]

Wow! Is that nearly a year ago.
I haven't heard anything since & the lathe owner hasn't been to any club meetings.
I will try & contact him & see if he's managed any improvement.
Thanks for your input gents.