Clausing 5904 carriage power feed not working

[bob phil]

I got this Clausing 5904 recently. Been working out the bugs. The carriage longitudinal power feed and cross feed do not work. The half nut will drive the carriage. The lead screw works forward and reverse. The longitudinal and cross feed do not work under power. The hand wheels work fine. I took the carriage off the lathe and did not see anything broken. In the second picture, I can put a ratchet on the nut, then put the cross feed or longitudinal feed in gear, I can then move the worm gear with my finger and both feeds will work. It seems the for some reason the lead screw is not driving the mechanism. The cross-feed gears are a little stiff but I can move them with my fingers.

 

[woodchucker]

so I am not a clausing owner, SB but here goes.
First you need to select which feed to work. If you have selected one or the other.
put the selector in cross slide mode:
so that sleeve that you are showing in the first pic. Rotate it while the lever is engaged. The gears should rotate. If they do, keep rotating and hold the gear that is above the carriage. If you can feel the pressure on that gear while rotating then the gear train is intact. The problem is between the gear and the cross slide. The cross slide gear should engage that gear above the carriage.

Put the selector in carriage feed mode:
rotate that sleeve... the output shaft in pic 2 is to the right. That should rotate. Hold the output and see that it fully transmits power to that gear.

If none of these are working while you are turning that sleeve while engaged, it's highly likely you have a broken tooth coming off the worm gear to the pinion or a secondary gear.
to trouble shoot this, you'll need to take it apart.

when you move the feed selector, you should see movement of one of the forks on the shaft. If the shaft moves, but the forks do not, you could have a loose fork (set screws or pins).

 

[bob phil]

I can change the selector to longitudinal feed. I can see the slide and gears more, looks good. I rotate the Sleeve "worm gear" and it works
Do the same thing for the cross feed and it also works..

 

[woodchucker]

was the apron fully attached to the carriage?
was there any gap?
if there was a gap, it was probably preventing both gears from mating to their respective gears.

You did put pressure on the output gears to make sure they are capable of transmitting the drive to the next gear I hope. If not, try holding back pressure to make sure nothing is slipping under load.

 

[jcp]

There should be a key in the worm gear that engages the keyway in the lead screw.

 

[bob phil]

That may be the answer. I have been wondering how that round small shaft that the lead screw goes through can be turned by the lead screw. One can look through the shaft in the first picture

 

[machPete99]

This is what I have for apron parts breakdown...

 

[bob phil]

Thanks for that parts list. I have the (Clausing instructions and parts book June 1967). in the parts list attached it shows a "worm gear key". In the (Clausing instructions and parts book June 1967). The worm gear is different and shows no key. I believe the apron is working fine the issue is the lead screw driving the worm gear to power the feed. In the picture below there is a bushing in the worm gear. I could spin the bushing in the worm gear. I turned the bushing to the right and it tightened up in the worm gear. I made it as tight as I could with a wooden dowel. Now I can turn the wood dowel and change the selector handle and all the power feeds work. I don't know how the worm gear works if mine needs the "worm gear key" or not. If the bushing screws into the worm gear. Not sure. I don't see a slot in the worm gear bushing for the "worm gear key" or a hole in the worm gear bushing for the pin in the "worm gear key". So not sure how the worm gear would capture the "worm gear key". Going to put it back togather and see if it works

 

[machPete99]

I suspect that bushing has an interior step or lip, which keeps the key from being forced out on that end. If you stick your finger in there I believe you should feel a key. Without the key I don't see how this thing would work.

 

[G-ManBart]

The bushing keeps the worm gear in the housing. The pin goes through the worm gear into the key which is inside the worm gear. Without a key it's not going to work. The key rides in the groove on the lead screw.