P1030V—need to either understand or fix

[Bill Kahn]

My PM1030V has been giving me much enjoyment for like two years now. Not that I really understand anything about the machine or machining, but I like what make.

And then, yesterday, something broke.

As I said, I an real amateur. So, I am hoping there is just some selection/gizmo on the machine I had not previously noted. But maybe something is broken I need help in learning how to get it fixed.

Suddenly, I can’t move the carriage. Hand wheel will not turn. I have checked that the carriage lock screw is loose. Half nut engage lever for threading is not engaged. Cross-feed and longitudinal feed lever still clicks into all four positions as normal. Further, the leadscrew is no longer turning even though the coupling sleeve coming out of the gearbox assembly does turn. I guess that means the Taper Pin connecting the two has sheared (what a nice fail safe feature).

So I think something in the Apron Assembly is not working right.

Question 1: Any thoughts as to what might be wrong and thus, how to fix?

Question 2: How do I find an experienced repair person to hire to fix something like this? (I accept that real machinists can disassemble/reassemble and for that matter, make from scratch, all their machines. I just want to use it, I will never have the skills to do heavy maintanence on it. So, want to hire some expertise here.)

Thank you, as always.

-Bill

 

[Latinrascalrg1]

A shot in the dark but is sounds like something, loose nut, accumulated swarf, etc... may have jammed up the carriage so thats where i would start my search.

 

[Tom1948]

I have a pm 1020v . About a year old. No problems so far. Call or email PM. Should have 3 year warranty.. Matt and the folks at PM are usually really helpful.

 

[higgite]

What exactly were you doing when it broke? Turning, threading, boring....? Did you hear anything "pop", like the shear pin? Can you see the half nuts, perhaps with a mirror or a cell phone camera, to verify that they are in fact disengaged? Is the carriage locking mechanism visible so you can verify that it isn't jammed or something? How hard have you tried to move the carriage with the handwheel, in both directions? Could be swarf jamming the rack and pinion, like Latinrascal suggested.

Tom

 

[T Bredehoft]

Just to make sure we're all on the same page.

Is the handwheel absolutely locked or will it rock back and forth a little? With any gear ingaged on my 1030, I can rock the handle a little. but the carriage won't move.

 

[Bill Kahn]

My PM1030V has been giving me much enjoyment for like two years now. Not that I really understand anything about the machine or machining, but I like what make.

And then, yesterday, something broke.

As I said, I an real amateur. So, I am hoping there is just some selection/gizmo on the machine I had not previously noted. But maybe something is broken I need help in learning how to get it fixed.

Suddenly, I can’t move the carriage. Hand wheel will not turn. I have checked that the carriage lock screw is loose. Half nut engage lever for threading is not engaged. Cross-feed and longitudinal feed lever still clicks into all four positions as normal. Further, the leadscrew is no longer turning even though the coupling sleeve coming out of the gearbox assembly does turn. I guess that means the Taper Pin connecting the two has sheared (what a nice fail safe feature).

So I think something in the Apron Assembly is not working right.

Question 1: Any thoughts as to what might be wrong and thus, how to fix?

Question 2: How do I find an experienced repair person to hire to fix something like this? (I accept that real machinists can disassemble/reassemble and for that matter, make from scratch, all their machines. I just want to use it, I will never have the skills to do heavy maintanence on it. So, want to hire some expertise here.)

Thank you, as always.

-Bill

OP here...

OK, finally got my lathe working again. I still do not know what I did or what broke. But I started to unscrew and unscrew more the apron. Learned a lot about how it all works. I tried to go slowly enough that I would be able to get it all back together thus I stopped when I was looking down into the many gears inside of it. I jiggled and pushed and I do not know what happened but it started to work again. Not all at once—but initially it could move and then it moved better, and now it is moving as well as it used to. I got it all together again. Fun hobby.

One thing that happened was the brass taper pin that connects the gear box to the leadscrew had sheared. So, the gearbox turned the sleeve that the leadscrew slides into, but the leadscrew did not turn. I had to remove the leadscrew block at the far right of the lathe and the leadscrew (and apron attached) then could be slid a few inches to the right. I could see the sheared brass taper pin. Well, I could not tap out the three pieces, but was able to drill them out. Made up a new one (it is more like 3mm, not the 4mm documented in the parts list). And got that all together again.

Lots of cleaning along the way. Changed the gear oil in the apron and in the gearbox. And it is all working. Amazing.

AND, Matt of Precision Matthews was genuinely fabulous along the way. He responded to emails. Guessed at what might be happening from my lousy descriptions and photos. Partially held my hand along the way. So, the decision to buy from PM turned out again to be the right one. Getting that kind of expert support two years after purchase is really valuable.

Thank you for the ideas on the thread. They were helpful too.

-Bill