Do any of the table drives fully disengage?

[jmarkwolf]

I think the old Bridgeport table drives fully disengage the gear box when freewheeling.

My Align table feed does not and I hate the infernal gear noise when hand wheeling the table. Do any of the "modern" table feeds fully disengage?

 

[tertiaryjim]

Some units use a sliding coupling to connect the shafts. Slide the coupling back to disengage

 

[derf]

All the ones I've seen, Servo and the imported clones that were made for Bridgeport type mills, all dis-engage. The ones for other type of mills like bench top models are a little different.

 

[jmarkwolf]

OP here:

Let me clarify here.

I have an Align which is an imported "Servo clone", and while it disengages enough so you can "hand wheel" the table, some of the gear train is still partially engaged and you can hear and feel the gear mesh. It's very annoying.

What I'm asking is if there are any table feeds that fully disengage the gear train so you can't hear it or feel the gear mesh while "hand wheeling" the table. Like the ancient Bridgeport brand table feed.

 

[mksj]

All the ones that are the Servo clones do not disengage the bevel gear, the clutch is at the bottom of the unit. I also have the Align drives, although the gear mesh is noticeable, I do not find it a problem. I do not know of any drives that disengage the bevel gear. I made my own drives years ago, I had considered an electromagnetic clutch with a direct drive to a gear motor, but it would have taken up too much rrom.

 

[derf]

If you are hearing and feeling gear mesh noise, there is something definitely wrong with the gear train. Normally you would not notice anything at all. It might be that the bevel gear is not shimmed correctly, or the bearing in the pinion gear is bad.
I have found a big difference between genuine Servo products and knock offs.

 

[jmarkwolf]

OP here.

Update:

I successfully installed the Align table drive on my new ACER 3VS II this evening.

Being a little bit smarter than when I originally installed it on my old Bridgeport a few years ago, it is much quieter when hand-wheeling this time around. I can still here the gear mesh but it's no longer objectionable. It was apparently a matter of properly shimming.

The installation manual is still insufferable, and there's not a new one on the web anywhere that I could find. You'd think someone in the Align supply chain would take it upon themselves to do a proper translation to English. Grizzly excels at this.

All is well now.