Align Power Feed Gear Replacement

[@billstarnes3179]

Nice work

[@f.hababorbitz]

I think you need to fix that eccentric runout, as that for sure will eat gears. Was it doing that before? It's an interesting safety overload clutch that way the gear is mounted on the hub. It should not strip the gear teeth off if that is working correctly.

[@LetsRogerThat]

Isn't it odd right. I've actually dismantled that thing in the past. Right down to the motor. The system although wobbling all over, or so it seems, runs perfectly. I inspected every single part and spent time making sure the gears are always in contact and sure enough, they always are. Now, the nylon gear is meant to be sacrificial in such a case, rather than damaging the motor which comes directly off that little horizontal gear that turns the nylon gear. So what actually happens is, once the x axis nut jammed onto the x-axis lead screw, the motor was still turning and the sacrificial gear lost 5-6 teeth. This happened before when I had the power feed on another milling machine. Otherwise that thing works perfectly. You know what they say. If it works, don't fix it. :) Gilles

[@bobvines00]

Gilles, wouldn't hitting the end of the shaft to remove the gear cause the shaft to bend? Surely that's not how the designers intended the gear to be removed for maintenance (assuming that they intended the power feed unit to be repaired)?

[@LetsRogerThat]

Its always possible Bob. But interestingly it turned like that when it was brand new. I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff in my short 60 yrs but that tops them all. At some point I’ll disassemble it again just for fun but the last I had it in pieces it all looked fine. Very odd

[@bobvines00]

@@LetsRogerThat It sounds like it was damaged when you first received it!

[@badjuju6563]

there is a LOT of weeble wobble of the gear on the shaft or in the shaft its self... has using the clamps pulled it out of alignment on the taper or is the shaft bent?

[@LetsRogerThat]

I agree with you. Its a LOT of wobble. The machine has always run that way oddly enough. When I inspected the shaft 2 years ago it looked fine. But its certainly possible that I missed something even though I dismantled the unit to fine why it wobbles like that. Perhaps at some point I'll take it apart again. Gilles

[@mikeparfitt8897]

As it is clear that the shaft itself is wobbling and it didn't look bent when you inspected it, my next suspect would be that one of the driving gears has been machined badly (or has worn) such that it's hole isn't concentric with the teeth.