Decided to tear the apron apart to try and fix an oil leak from the lead screw which was bothering me so i thought I'd throw it out here.
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Here is where the leak was coming from(not the open cover, rather where the lead screw goes through the worm gear(worm gear is not in this pic)
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The passage in the bottom of the hole in this pic was full of debris, sludge, tiny metal filings etc. From what it appeared to me its the oil return possible to return the main cavity in the apron.
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The opposite side has a similar passage.
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The worm gear and bushing.
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The bushing has a hole in the bottom for oil to drain into the passage. It was plugged also(yes there is wear on the items in the picture)
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This was the close to the amount of gap between the worm gear and bushing when it was installed. Approximately .075 give or take.
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The worm gear, bushing, and the apron itself all have wear in them. New parts would just sit against worn edges and wear quicker. My plan it to make a new longer bushing and cut a close taper to match the end of the worm gear, and then cut a tapered shim for the other end and let the worm gear ride on a bushing rather than the apron itself. The bushing I plan to make will be longer so I have some room for adjustment as it wears down the road.
I have a small Sears and roebuck lathe(12x36 never played with it, or cleaned it up yet) Tried to make a bushing when the clausing was torn apart but it needs to be worked over a little and tighten it up(metal gibs, not the plastic ones,mainly) but it just wasnt working very well(and very slow) so I put the clausing back together and I am making the bushing on the clausing, for the clausing. Its going to work(in my head anyway) but I'm going off drawings now rather than have the part in my hand.
I didnt take all the gears and parts out of the apron as they all looked good. They spun well, didnt see any issues other than it needed washed out pretty bad. It hasnt been cleaned in a LOT of years I suspect.
Dont ask why the attachments below this are there. Im not sure what I did to make that happen!!!