PM1340GT Seems to have some resistance on x axis.

[chiroone]

I finally got my PM 1340 mounted on its stand. I was cleaning all of the preservative grease on it and was trying to move the carriage along the X axis, and I noticed it seems to have some resistance, far more than the cross slide. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

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[Bob Korves]

The cross slide is the X, and the left and right toward and away from the spindle is Z. If you are having resistance in the Z axis when moving it by hand when not engaged with the lead screw, then it is probably the carriage to bed gibs under the ways of the lathe that need adjusting. Start on the far side of the bed where the carriage is held down to the bed by a gib and screws. It could also possibly be something dragging on the handwheel rack and pinion, or a bent feed screw. Is the machine new or well used?

 

[chiroone]

Bob, the machine is brand new, I am still cleaning off the packing grease in fact. I understand, that under the DRO scales, there is a locking screw of some kind. Is it possible that that is turned down too much I am wondering? Would that affect left to right travel?

I am also wondering, that on the very large drive gear on the left side of the machine , that is covered by that very heavy cast iron cover , is that supposed to be lubricated and if so, what Lubrication would you use?

 

[Bob Korves]

There is a locking screw on the rear of the cross slide that often gets buried when a DRO is installed on the X (cross slide, front to back of the carriage) axis. If that locking screw was tightened when the DRO scale was installed, that could be a problem. It also could just be a tight adjustment of the cross slide gib. The gib is easy to loosen and tighten, and should still be accessible, we hope... Generally you loosen the rear screw until it is loose, then loosen the front screw to back off pressure on the gib. Both are right hand threads, if it is like mine. I am still not sure which axis you are working on...

 

[mksj]

There is a locking screw that secures the carriage, it is locked for shipping. It needs to be loosened under normal use. There are also front and rear gibs, but these should have been set at the factory. The manual describes how to adjust them.

This side gears are typically lubed with a light coat of grease, I use a high impact "tacky" grease that doesn't fly off, it is similar to what is used on hitches, impact tools, etc. There are a number previous posting, everyone seems to have their own preference. You also need to check/set the gear clearances, most people use a sheet of notebook paper between the gears to set the distance and then tighten everything up and remove the paper. So something like a 0.004" clearance or just a slight amount of slack between gears.