Delta reeves drive rebuild ?s

J

Jeff Duncan

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Hi guys, new member here so hoping I posted this in the right place. I'm a professional woodworker and as such my "hobby" has become fixing, repairing, restoring machines mostly for my woodworking, though occasional metal working equipment as well. My machinist skills are really minimal, I've played around on a small Southbend lathe enough to turn basic bushings and make some custom pieces for furniture when needed. Mostly I just read up in books or online, figure out what I need to do, and then start practicing.

So, the reason for this post is I'm in the process of rebuilding a Delta 17-600 drill press with the reeves drive. I've got the spindle broken down and am replacing all the bearings. But what I'd like to do is rebuild the reeves as well. It's not in terrible shape, but definitely showing some wear. I've done several hours of searching now with very little success on this particular reeves system, (apparently Clausing supplies replacement Delrin bushings for their version). Soooo I'm looking for advice from anyone familiar with these types of pulleys on the best way forward to replace the Delta ones. Some pertinent information.... the Delta pulleys are aluminum, (as opposed to the iron Clausing) and not sure what the stock bushing material is.... it's very hard and dark gray/black in color. My thought is to first try to carefully push the bushings out on my 20 ton press, and if that doesn't work mount the pulleys on a friends Southbend lathe and carefully bore the old bushings out. So questions....

1)Not sure what the best material for the new bushing inserts is? I can get materials like oil impregnated bronze, Acetal, and teflon impregnated nylon through MSC, though I feel nylon is a bit soft for this? Haven't looked into Delrin yet as I've not used it before.

2)What type of glue would normally be used to glue the bushings in, epoxy? A Loctite product? There's no key between the bushing and pulley bore so its got to be pretty good bond either by press fit or adhesive or both.

3)there's a half round keyway for a round nylon key, (roughly 10 o-clock on the black busing), whats the best way to mill this? I'm thinking making the bushing as a solid rod, press/glue into place, and then mark and drill the hole before boring the inside of the bushing to size?

any advice to get me started is much appreciated. I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions as I go, but I need a leaping of point!

thanks,
JeffIMG_3259.jpg
 
If it was mine I'd bore them out and use the sintered bronze bushing . I'd use a couple thou press shrink fit , by that I mean heat the pulleys and freeze the bushings . When installed they should lock up tight has the cool and warm up. It wouldn't hurt adding green locktite to the outside of the bushings before install.. The key I'm sure could be done with a round file quickly in bronze. I have a 20" Rockwell delta power feed drill press of my own but it's a pulley system model.. good luck and hope this helps . I'm old school metal don't trust plastics.
 
Thanks Silverbullet. I like that idea for pressing them in, though I don't have an easy way to heat the pulleys evenly at the shop. I could pop the bearings in my small refrigerators freezer for a bit though. And I have a 20 ton press that should help get them in cleanly. The temp extremes won't affect the Loctite?

I don't mind plastic, just don't know enough to have a solid opinion. I would think a company like Clausing would want to use the best materials for their equipment. With Delta it doesn't surprise me they cut costs, I mean they made the pulleys out of cast aluminum instead of iron which would have worn so much better.

Jeff
 
A hot plate or propane torch will do. They only need to be 300- 500 degrees , just hot to hot to hold with out welding gloves. And one at a time works. But it's up to you.
 
Welcome Jeff

I'm also in the midst of rebuilding a Reeves drive. Because the purpose of the bushing(s) is axial slip (moving the pulleys toward or away from each other when they are rotating at equal velocity), I suggest slippery plastic. I skipped this part of the rebuild for now to focus on replacing the seized up hydraulic adjustment mechanism, but will use black Delrin when I do.
 
Thanks guys. I got the first set of ball bearings yesterday so the process of putting back together has officially begun. I should have the rest of the bearings early this week and will probably get everything back together and see how she runs. The wear isn't terrible, but I'd like to see how smooth I can get her to run. So still on the fence between plastic or bronze, but I have about a month before I need to decide so will keep researching.

Jeff
 
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