RF 30 Mill

[bsashootingstar]

Hi I recently purchased an RF30 Mill. It's in very good condition and appears to have done little work. However I find that when I lower the spindle shaft it starts to get tight about a quarter of the way down. Started stripping and there's a fair bit of dry grease in the rack but with the pinion removed I'm going to have to knock the spindle shaft out and am a bit concerned about re-assembly. I've removed the spindle lock components and have put a DTI on the shaft whilst raising/lowering and it's spot on...
I'm guessing it needs to be a transitional fit for accuracy but I am a bit concerned that it feels good for the first part of the travel then gets tight.
Any thoughts?

 

[FanMan]

Stupid suggestion, but if you're using the big downfeed handle make sure the fine feed crank is fully disengaged. On mine if I don't sufficiently loosen the fine feed engagement knob when using the handles it does just what you describe.

 

[mickri]

Since you mention a fair amount of dried up grease I would take the cover plate off of the head and shoot a lot of WD40, Ed's red bore cleaner, PB blaster or your favorite degreaser on the spindle. Let it sit for awhile and do it again. A couple of applications should free everything up. Follow that up with your lubricant of choice.

 

[brasssmanget]

I had the same issue with grease build up / caking on my RF31 - it's about 15 years old I guess. Some penetrating oil down the top (quite a few squirts) finally loosened it up and it moves freely now. It got to the point where it would stay where ever I stopped without using the locking nut.

 

[mikey]

Hi I recently purchased an RF30 Mill. It's in very good condition and appears to have done little work. However I find that when I lower the spindle shaft it starts to get tight about a quarter of the way down. Started stripping and there's a fair bit of dry grease in the rack but with the pinion removed I'm going to have to knock the spindle shaft out and am a bit concerned about re-assembly. I've removed the spindle lock components and have put a DTI on the shaft whilst raising/lowering and it's spot on...
I'm guessing it needs to be a transitional fit for accuracy but I am a bit concerned that it feels good for the first part of the travel then gets tight.
Any thoughts?

I am totally confused as to what you're doing.

• You're lowering the spindle shaft; how do you do that when the spindle is contained inside pressed bearings inside the quill? Do you mean the quill is binding?
• Dry grease in the rack. Which rack? Do you mean the rack/teeth on the back side of the spindle? So, do you mean that you got the pinion shaft out? That is, you removed the quill spring and have pulled the pinion shaft with the quill handles out and are looking at the teeth on the back of the quill?

It would help to show us some pics so we are clearer on what you're doing. The quill should move freely so if it isn't then there is either crud/grease/chips or something in the rack OR there is a mechanical issue. To sort it out, the quill has to come out of the head, which is simple to do once we figure out where you are.

 

[bsashootingstar]

Thanks for the responses. Everything is dismantled as per pics. The item I trying to remove is the designated "3-16 rack sleeve" in the manual. I'll try to remove the rack sleeve (quill?) and clean out the old grease with petrol and hopefully that'll do the trick...

 

[mikey]

Okay, the thing you're calling the rack sleeve is actually the quill. Raise the head and lower the quill out of the head and you can clean all the crap out of there. Check to make sure all the teeth on the rack and pinion gear are okay; nothing should bind.

 

[bsashootingstar]

Tapped the quill out with a timber drift, cleaned all the dry grease out, lubed with WD40 and reassembled. I had to use the head rack to push the head on to the quill. It's still tight when the quill is extended but loosens up when the quill is 75% up, if that makes sense. Can't see any physical damage to racks, pinions, splines or bores

 

[mikey]

Something is not right. You shouldn't have to lower the head onto the quill to get it into the quill bore. Is there some interference in the head casting that is touching the quill? You should be able to just slip the quill into its bore without any issues. It is a light slip fit. I would explore this because if something is touching the quill it will cause significant wear over time.

 

[bsashootingstar]

Okay thanks for those comments, the "light slip fit" was what I was chasing. I'll pull it back out and investigate further. It's a tight right at the entry to the head casting. Maybe that's where the issue is. I have a cylinder hone that I could use but I'm a bit nervous of creating excess clearance. I'm guessing it left the factory all good..