Problem with my 16-24 nova lathe

I have had this lathe for about four yrs and for the most part I love it,BUT I HATE the banjo,it will not stay put,everytime I move it in or out,I have to take an allen wrench an tighten up that plate,or loosin it up.OK I have been living with that headache,but I got the woodcut bowlsaver and love it,BUT now the banjo will not stay tight,least amount of viboration and it comes loose,Does anybody know of a modified banjo that will work on this lathe.

Check underneath for cracks. Do this before you tighten again. Cracks can turn into complete breaks with cast iron very quickly.

I have never heard of this problem on a 1624 (since I have one I read a lot of post about them). I am not at my shop and cannot pull up the manual on-line for reference.

I do know that I have never loosened or tighten the plate. Have you slide banjo off and cleaned the underside? There is a nut on the rear end of the banjo to adjust the pressure needed on the locking handle to lock it (I did adjust that one time). It takes a very little change. Currently mine is unlocked at about 12:00 and fully locked about 5:00.

If it gets gunked up underneath it can become very difficult to slide so I would clean that first. You may have to re-adjust the screw you were talking about so the banjo slides smoothly and then adjust the nut at the rear. I would try unlocking and then make small (1/16 turn or less) changes to the nut. It sounds like when fully locked the cam is not providing enough pressure.

If this doesn't help (or others help) call the service center. It is probably just the right minor adjustment but it could be something else.

I took it all apart and gave it a good cleaning,couldn't find any cracks,and it seemed to work a bit better then,but I called the tech support in St pete and were going to take a look at mine when I get back to Tampa this month and see what he comes up with.He seems to think that the cam shaft may be bent a bit.

Ken Ward said:

I took it all apart and gave it a good cleaning,couldn't find any cracks,and it seemed to work a bit better then,but I called the tech support in St pete and were going to take a look at mine when I get back to Tampa this month and see what he comes up with.He seems to think that the cam shaft may be bent a bit.

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Just a follow up on this post, when I was in Tampa this yr I went over to the Nova warehouse and I will say that those folks bent over backwards to help me out.They not only gave me a new banjo,but the part of the bed that the motor mounts on.We just got back to NC this week and I tried out the new banjo 1st,problem solved,definately thumbs up to those fellows.

That is really good to hear. Nova has not always had the best reputation for Customer Service here in the U.S. Fact that was part of the reason I sold mine several years ago. There were greater reasons like lack of space, bigger than I needed for the type of turning I like to do... It is a great lathe, but I am now very satisfied with my little Delta.

I have had my Nova for 5 yrs and have never had a problem getting support.