Sieg X2.7 (LMS 5500): X-Y axis locking problems

Greets to all! Have been using the mill off and on for some time now - VERY nice piece 'o kit (as the Brits would say). Recently I've been having an odd issue: when I tighten the X-axis locking screw (front of table) the Y-Axis locks up as well! Just took out all the X-Y gibs, cleaned and stoned, returned - Problem still persists. I would think with one axis locked, the other should move freely. Not quite - I can lock Y-axis (side, under table) and X still moves fine. But if I tighten the X-axis lock (front) BOTH axis's lock up!

Any ideas what might be going on?
 
I'm interested in knowing the answer to your strange problem but I guess everyone is scratching their heads ,the X axis should not have any connection to the Y axis so I think you should investigate it a little further, and please let us know what can cause your odd issue with the Y axis.
 
Just throwing this out there. On these machines the Y axis feed screw nut is located behind and below the X axis lock. The nut is installed in the X axis' bottom dovetail casting (as is the X axis lock). If the casting is defective (cracked?) it might be possible to disturb the feed screw nut when the X axis lock is engaged. If the nut is forced to tilt it might "grab" the feed screw and cause it to lock up.

It's been awhile since I had the table apart so I'm not sure this is mechanically feasible or not.

There are several "mights" in this hypothesis so odds are it's something else. But worth checking out.
 
When I lock only the X or only the Y axis on my LMS 5500, the unlocked axis gets a little harder to move, but it doesn’t lock up by any means. I think homebrewed is probably on the right track about the lead screw nuts getting pushed just a little off axis by whichever dovetailed part is being locked. How tight are your gibs? I think it might be possible if the tapered gibs are too loose for the locks to cock the table or crosslide a little bit, causing the lead screw nut to twist a little sideways on the screw, causing it to bind, but that's speculation. Will be interesting to hear what LMS says about it.

Tom
 
Ummm - I think this might be a BIG RED FACE moment for me! :oops:

It must have been a brain-fart as when I went back to it today - all is fine and working as it should. Arrrrrg!
 
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