>I love everything about my Jet mini except for two things...the tailstock lock bar does not hold well and the banjo does not slide smoothly.
Unless I hammer the tailstock lock lever with the heel of my hand, the tailstock seems to slip easily. Then, it takes far more effort to unlock the lever than is reasonable.
Moving the banjo to the far left to make room for sanding is a push/slide/pull/push/slide/pull thing...not too much bother if doing it every now and then, but a royal pain doing it every three minutes when doing pen production turning.
I have played around with the tensioning adjustments on both, but have had trouble finding the "sweet spot" on both. I have read other posts on similar problems, but, short of replacing parts (available from a fellow at Sawmill Creek), I am not sure how to proceed.
>I took the plunge and bought the tailstock block from the guy at Sawmill Creek - the end of tailstock creep - the tailstock is now rock solid. **almost everyone has complained about the tailstock creep on the Jet mini...seems to be a very common problem / design flaw from Jet...but if that's the only thing wrong with it, then its a heck of a value.
>As mentioned in previous message, WD40 it to death. As for tailstock creep...it is a lathe...it makes wood round...make an 8" long wood extension for the poor excuse of a handle Jet gives us....no more creep!!!
As my hands are not as tough as they used to be I keep a short piece of pipe at each of my machines. I slip it over the locking handles and give it a push or a pull. I take it off while turning. My large lathes I use a 24" and on the small 8".
>I'd suggest some wax, and lots of it, had the same problem, now I wax the heck out of everything once a month and its like glass, doesnt help with the tailstock creep tho...
