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- Feb 1, 2015
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I am finding that out as well. After days of applying penetrating oil and trying to allow it to seep in, things are still fail here. That damn chuck is so jammed in there, no go.
I feel it's going to be jammed in there for life at this point, LOL.
By the way, I've included a pic of the top of the mill with the protective cap removed. I can unscrew the drawbar itself ok, but I tried to remove the spanner nut on the top as well. I am finding this also impossible. I can turn it a few degrees one way or the other, but then it jams as well. Is that actually normal? I am finding myself more and more confused with this mill. I don't know which way is clockwise, or up or down anymore... lol
And ontop of these issues, I have even more issues... For example, my headsock still jams at certain points when moving it for drilling. I had a hunch, and after checking it seems to always jam at 360 deg locations when pulling the handlebars. I'm suspect some disgruntled slave in china may have left some screw somewhere in the gears. I'm going to have to do a through examination of that too. It's making my mill unusable for even drilling as it jams all the time (murphy's law) right when I'm drilling. Almost as though someone specially designed it to jam there too. LOL
View attachment 264452
Having jammed travel every 360º of rotation suggests some debris in the pinion gear. It looks like the entire head is fed down and also that the rack pitch is fairly fine compared to mill/drills that I have used. With the rack exposed, it is possible that the debris got caught in the rack and was transferred to the pinion. It may take some disassembly to be able to clean the pinion.
The manual is rather sparse in describing operation. It doesen't look like you have an opening for drift. You could possibly loosen the spindle nut enough to put a gear puller under the nut. Loosen the drawbar a turn or two as well. If you put a 14mm socket on the drawbar and use it to center the gear puller, you may be able to apply enough force with the gear puller so some tapping with a hammer will break it free.
Failing that, you should be able to remove the spindle and work on it off the machine. This has the advantage of removing the bearings so they won't be damaged and greater access to the problem area. In that case, a heavy plate with three tapped holes at 120º and a second plate with through holes will give you a tool which can create a very large amount of force to free the stuck taper.
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