Index mill questions

autonoz

autonoz

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I have a new to me Index 745. I have a few questions I am hoping someone can answer. In the following pictures I have arrows pointing to the object in question.

The first arrow points to the manual quill downfeed arm. When I pull it down it works fine. When I release it it moves very slowly to the up position. Should it move faster under spring tension?

The second arrow points to the quill autofeed reverse plunger. The manual fine feed wheel is not on there as it is missing. When I engae everything to start the auto downfeed it works fine. Where the wheel is suppose to be to be it turns as the auto feed causes the quill to go down. Now the problem. The plunger you pull out to reverse the quill will not pull out reversing the direction. Also when auto is not engaged I can not move the fine feed shaft to move the quill. Any ideas?

The third arrow points to the lever that activates the auto downfeed. Initially it would not stay engaged so I took the mechanism apart, cleaned it thouroughly, lubed and it now works fine. Is there anything that is suppose to disengage this lever when the downfeed gets to a pre set position?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Well my arrows did not show up. If you are familiar with this mill you should know which levers I am talking about.

indexarrowpict.gif
 
I have never used an Index mill, but it is similar enough to a Bridgeport that it was not hard to figure out what is what. Since no one else has answered, I figured I would give my thoughts on it.

Regarding your first question, the speed at which the quill retracts is due mostly to the amount of friction between the head and the quill. Some mills have a pinch bolt by which you can adjust that friction. Alternatively, the quill lock might be creating just enough drag to reduce the speed at which the quill retracts, make sure that it is loose.

On the second part of your questions, I don't have any real ideas there other than to disassemble and clean the fine feed mechanism. It is possible that a chip or two got in there and are jamming things up.

For the automatic downfeed shutoff, it is built into the adjustable depth stop. When the moving collar that is attached to the quill presses against the adjustable depth stop nut, the threaded shaft gets pushed down, disengaging the auto feed.
 
The only question I can really answer is #1, it sounds like the quill return is adjusted exactly right. The quill should not snap back up like a drill press. The spring should just counterbalance the weight of the quill. You have a bit of friction there that sounds like it could be just the cold oil acting as a damper.

#2 and #3, what Terry said.
 
Thanks for the response. The auto stop worked just like you said. I think my manual fine feed is not working because the downfeed speed selector on the right side will not go into a neutral position. No matter where you position it the quill feeds downward. Even in neutral. Wish I had a breakdown manual so I knew how to pull this apart. I am always afraid I am going to drop a part inside.
 
Give Wells-Index a call and they can send you out a handbook for the mill. The quality of the handbooks isn't great and they want a premium for them but they are still useful.

-Ron
 
I have recently refurbished my 745 head take off the right side power down feed rate selection lever(simple to reinstall and hard to screw up) and check to see how dried up the grease is mine was terrible, ended up replacing all bearings, the only info out there on teardown is the mechanical drawings you already have. I have also experienced trouble with the the quill down feed lever I cannot seem to get the spring adjustment right the way it is made is a bit strange and there is a lot of friction between the 2 plates that are on either side of the return spring.
 
I currently have the gearbox apart. The gears that change the quill feed speed were all stuck from old grease. I pulled everything out and cleaned it. Replaced the bearings and will put it together tomorrow, once I get some grease. I still cannot get the reverse plunger to free up. I have some PB Blaster sprayed in it hoping to free it up over night, but not hopeful. Atleast it's stuck in the down direction.
 
once you have it apart the drawings mean a little more don,t they. do not loose the little leaf spring that tensions that reverse tumbler whatchamajig it eill be on the end of the shaft undereneath it
 
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