- Joined
- Jan 4, 2017
- Messages
- 16
long time lurker first time poster. i finally got my first milling machine about 3 weeks ago (used index 847). soon as i got it home, my first order of business was to take it all apart and clean out the years of junk and grime. so i went at it. took apart and cleaned out the bottom half pf the machine over a few days. and reassembly went fairly smooth (no left over parts at the end). i used the machine a few times just to play around and see how it worked and noticed the power downfeed only worked if i held the handle in the up position. so naturally my next mission was to take the head back off and take it apart. this was much more difficult to reassemble. the puzzle of gearing to make everything slide back in properly was fun to figure out....first time always takes the longest. then i spent about 3 solid days doing the same thing over and over again with the downfeed shaft/clutch until i realized the gear slid on the shaft from the other direction (felt like an idiot wasting hours and hours trying to figure out why i could get the freaking clutch adjustment to line up).still need to tune in the clutch but it seems to work.
now the only thing that i cant figure out is the clock spring. i have everything assembled back in the head, but the clock spring will not retract the lever even with the quill out! if i watch it wind and unwinding the spring looks like (and sounds like) its sticky? if i wind it all the way up each layer as i unwind it kind of pops or unsticks from other layers, but it will not do it on its own. before i took it apart it did a decent job. so i know ive done something wrong somewhere. i took the spring plate out and washed it and oiled hoping that would do it...it didnt. the downfeed shaft moved freely, its not binding when manually lifting and lowering the quill.
thats about all the detail i can think of with my issue. any help would be great! ill try and post up some photos of my new toy also. everyone likes pictures thank you in advance for any help.
now the only thing that i cant figure out is the clock spring. i have everything assembled back in the head, but the clock spring will not retract the lever even with the quill out! if i watch it wind and unwinding the spring looks like (and sounds like) its sticky? if i wind it all the way up each layer as i unwind it kind of pops or unsticks from other layers, but it will not do it on its own. before i took it apart it did a decent job. so i know ive done something wrong somewhere. i took the spring plate out and washed it and oiled hoping that would do it...it didnt. the downfeed shaft moved freely, its not binding when manually lifting and lowering the quill.
thats about all the detail i can think of with my issue. any help would be great! ill try and post up some photos of my new toy also. everyone likes pictures thank you in advance for any help.