Ball and spring locations-Solved

[Nooj]

After a long hiatus, I’m trying to finish up my restoration (work has been ridiculous this year); It’s a Craftsman 12” 101.28991, serial number 001465.
Lo and behold- what do I find on the workbench as I’m finishing up? A spring and ball... of course.
I’ve got my original, oily, tattered manual, so I start searching, and quickly found where the missing bits go. It’s for the cross feed engagement lever. BUT- here’s the problem- the ball doesn’t fit in the hole, and the length of the ball and spring are FAR too tall for the depth of the hole.

I searched the manual to see if I may have mixed up a ball/spring set. The only other two I found were in the back gear engagement lever, and half nut engagement mechanism. I removed both and they’re exactly the same ball and spring.

I got a slightly smaller BB to fit the hole, and tried to see if it’ll “work”, but once the spring gets tight against the carriage the cross feed lever is impossible to move.

So- did I miss/mix up a spring somewhere else?? I couldn’t find any others in my parts diagrams. Also, in my diagram, the ball is above the spring, which makes absolutely no sense.

Please advise!

Nooj

 

[Nooj]

I will also note, I did find another ball & spring set on the drawing; But it’s in the indexing pin assembly (headstock) which I did not remove during the resto.
I haven’t seen any other small springs I could’ve mixed this up with.

How on earth could it have fit before, I wonder…
Nooj

 

[Provincial]

The ball (6-61) is called out as 3/16" diameter in the Atlas 1964 parts book. The same part number is shown in the parts book for the last Craftsman lathes sold.

The spring (9-210) is also called out as 3/16". It is also used for all the Atlas lathes. It is used in several locations, including the lead screw reversing lever on the change-gear model.

There is a different part number for the springs used in the controls for the quick change gearbox.

Any good hardware store will have a 3/16" bearing ball in their hardware section. Look in the same area for a 3/16" diameter compression spring. It doesn't have to be very strong. You may have to cut it down in length. Measure the depth of the hole and cut the spring (when collapsed) 3/16" shorter than the depth to the top surface of the apron. That should give you spring tension and still allow the ball to get out of the detent groove.

 

[chip maker]

So heres my thought but just me, if you ended up with a ball and spring that is too large for that hole there must be a larger hole somewhere that ended up getting a smaller ball and spring. Now depending on what that ball is doing it may or may not cause a problem sometime else down the road. It's easy to just get the new ball and spring but you still don't know where that larger ball and spring belongs. The only other thing is that for some reason that ball and spring expanded after it was taken out of the hole Ha Ha !!! Good luck

 

[Nooj]

So heres my thought but just me, if you ended up with a ball and spring that is too large for that hole there must be a larger hole somewhere that ended up getting a smaller ball and spring. Now depending on what that ball is doing it may or may not cause a problem sometime else down the road. It's easy to just get the new ball and spring but you still don't know where that larger ball and spring belongs. The only other thing is that for some reason that ball and spring expanded after it was taken out of the hole Ha Ha !!! Good luck

That was exactly my thought. Although, after reviewing the parts breakdown, I removed and inspected the only other ball and springs that I saw- and they were identical to the ones that don’t seem to fit this location!

I reckon these just swelled up on me. Unless there’s some magic I’m missing, there’s no way the ball and spring I have remaining will fit in the location they should.

 

[Nooj]

The strange part is that all of these parts were removed from this lathe, and I’ve not found any other parts they may have been mixed up with.
Of course, I never operated this lathe before the restoration, so perhaps this lever never moved

I dunno… but I’m going to make an executive decision and cut down the spring by a considerable portion, and use the smaller bb. It’ll work better than nothing. Although, I’m still stumped as to why a change is needed… must’ve swelled up on me, I reckon.

 

[Nooj]

I’ve solved the mystery, but not before making a mistake along the way.

Turns out there’s a hole drilled through where the cross feed gear shaft goes through the apron. Above AND below the hole for that shaft. The ball and spring goes below the shaft, not above. That’s why I had no room for it on the top, and that’s also why the parts diagram shows the ball above the spring.

Of course- I only came to this epiphany right after cutting down the spring. Doh!

But, all is well now. I found a suitable spring.

Thanks for the input on this!

Nooj

 

[chip maker]

Glad to see that things have worked out. It's always nice when people let everyone involved know that you got it fixed and done the right way. Has to really make you feel better that you got it figured out I know I would be super enjoyed with that kind of outcome. At least now you know that your lathe doesn't have those auto expanding balls. !!!!!!

 

[wachuko]

Great to see you found its correct location and reported back to share.

I run into situations like that with bolts… but sometimes it is my father-in-law‘s fault. Just for his own amusement, without me knowing, he would place a bolt or two next to where I am working… and sit back to wait for when I am done…. Good thing I love that SOAB!!!!

 

[TRussey]

Thanks for following up with the fix! I found myself in the exact same situation yesterday and felt like I was going crazy. Now I can get the apron on this evening.