M300 headstock gear crash, or so I thought

Careless changing of the spindle speed gearbox brought on a horrendous noise in the headstock. Luckily it was easily fixed and no damage done.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Hello Samuel. Your misfortune was our fortune, in that we got to see you again. So pleased that you were able to “fix” your lathe and give a heads up to other Harrison owners. Hope to see more from you in due course. Stay well. 👍😀

[@jaybee7952]

Good to see you back Samuel. Pleased you sorted it out. I too never use them top gears, my house lights dim when I do.🤣

[@kevinforth7618]

Well done Mr Fielder, and thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[@HaxbyShed]

That was interesting thank you. Funny how these latent problems can be dormant waiting to show themselves later. It takes a long time to fully get to know a machine. Cheers

[@ThePottingShedWorkshop]

That was a good fix! My M300 headstock is fairly noisy, but the lathe is over 50 years old. Like you, I don't use the fastest two speeds either.

[@Paul-FrancisB]

Thanks for an interesting little video, now I will know what to look for if it happens to me, hopefully it won't. I'm glad it was an easy fix for you in the end, I can just imagine the sickening feelings you had when you heard that horrible noise 😮

[@user-fs6dd9ub9i]

Hello Samuel . I have been following Your successes and failures for some time. Try not to beat yourself up too much when things don't go as planned as you do very well for a someone without any formal machining training. I did my apprentiship many decades ago.. Back in those days a Fitting,Turning and Machining apprenticship took 10,000 hours (5 years, 8 hours a day 5 days a week ) and no time off for good behavior. There are many tens of thousands of hobby machinists out who do very well but it takes many many hours

[@user-uk1pe7bj4f]

Samuel, glad you found no damage to your gearhead. i have have a lathe from Chester tools same size as your's (gearhead box much larger than the Harrison but not of it's quality) you are lucky. My problem shortly after importing into Ireland was oil leaking from feed change box, no chance of sending this back to U.K would cost a fortune, no info. on how to remove the feed box so removed front plate of box to get a look ( big mistake) all the gravity latches on the top and bottom shafts which aid side to side movement of gears DROPPED I then had to remove the motor and and the back gears plus the entire box. Job took about 2 days to complete. P.S never take remove the front plate on this box instead remove the box from under the gearhead in one piece and then carry out service thru. the now open back side of the box (or all the controls will drop out of position," heart breaking" I am 75 don't have the time for this kind of mess. Best of luck , you have a lovely shop well done.

[@samuelfielder]

Sounds like a nightmare!

[@Wisdomseeker333]

Interesting and informative. Nice to see you again Samuel 👍

[@stevechambers9166]

Thanks good to know The one at work has a few issues with the headstock gears because they didn’t realise you had to push them selectors in before you turn them

[@ypaulbrown]

great fix, cheers from the US, Paul

[@laurentianvmx1692]

Hi, we had the same thing happen to our Deckel FP-2. No harm done !

[@Convolutedtubules]

Hi Samuel. Thank you for sharing. My M300 sounds very bad on high gear range, even worse in reverse.

[@murrayedington]

Phew! Beers are on you!

[@uliman100]

Been watching a few of your video's because I am in the market for this exact model lathe. Just a few things I did notice and please take this as just an obeservation and not trying to be safety police, I would stronly suggest not to wear watches or jewelry when working with the lathe, as well as the loose clothing you sometimes wear is really dangerous, in a previous video you had worn a tracksuit trouser tied with stiring pulls at the front and they can get easily get picked up by spinning handwheels and or swarf. Also spinning the chuck at speed without it holding a piece or at least tightened down is bad practice. Hope you get all the niggles sorted with your lathe as they are really good machines.

[@samuelfielder]

Yes, well I think you'll find if I'm actually machining I do take my watch off and pull up my sleeves. Also, clearance distances can be deceptive on video. I had similar worries when watching some of Keith Rucker's videos. I'll keep it in mind.

[@lindsaybrown7357]

Good result. I just need to sort out the lubrication and I'm ready to run mine. Been wasting my time with enquiries to Colchester for Dickson tool holders. They clearly aren't interested in selling stuff. Can now understand why people are buying knock offs from India.

[@samuelfielder]

I bought one from India and it was fine. Uk ones ludicrously expensive.

[@lindsaybrown7357]

​@@samuelfielder Yes, I think this is the way to go.

[@carlkulyk366]

Interesting findings