# Gear head mill locking up



## Shawn_Laughlin (Jul 22, 2019)

So I was making a cut with if I remember correctly a 1/2 end mill when all of a sudden bam,and the motor is just buzzing. 
I turn it off and turn back on and just buzzing so I switch to reverse and forward and do that a few times before it unlocks and starts spinning.
Now,since I’ve had this thing,a g0791 lathe mill combo,the mill head has been loud and clanky,but everything I’ve read says they are loud,so I kept on going and not saying anything to grizzly about it.
Now it seems as though there is even more clanken going on but there is not one broke tooth on any gear,but there the backlash had always seemed excessive.
Have anyone had any problems with there gearhead mills?
There are no plastic gears in this thing.


----------



## markba633csi (Jul 23, 2019)

There must be something bad going on in the millhead- is this unit still under warranty? 
Sounds like there could be metal chunks or debris in the gears


----------



## rock_breaker (Jul 29, 2019)

If the gears are alright I wouls supect a bad bearing. Can you rotate the head by hand somehow?  Perhaps a large allen wrench or something :L shaped to feel if the bearings do have rough spots?
Good luck and have a better day
Ray


----------



## Shawn_Laughlin (Jul 29, 2019)

Yes it is still under warranty,I’ve just had so many problems I think they think I’m doing something I’m not suppose to be,but that’s not the case. It locked up with a 1/2 or 5/8 end mill doing a light cut on face so it had nothing to do with how I was using.

I’ve actually used it since and honestly forgot about it. I think it’s the gear on the motor bc it has the most backlash there but not nearly as much when the same gear set meshes with the other set of gears. I’ve been trying to half a$$ design a chip guard that will work with both the mill and lathe bc I’m tired of all the shavings being thrown at me and I totally forgot about it. I have plenty of time though. I actually need to talk to grizzly about extending the warranty bc I haven’t been able to use the lathe bc of a short compound gib. 1” short and have been waiting since about 3 weeks from the purchase date till now and going to be until November 6th before they will be in stock after they told me July 1st. My 3 jaw was screwed too and they told me the same date as above after they sent me the wrong d1-4 chuck but it actually came in a week after so I’m hoping.

 Anyways the spindle seems to have no slip but did notice the quill rotated a little,probably bc the set screw wasn’t tight enough though. 
One thing though that doesn’t seem right at all is when I tighten the quill it move a lot and throws it out of tram and move vertical also,which really pisses me off


----------



## matthewsx (Jul 29, 2019)

When you braced the milling column you did it totally reversible right? May want to make sure there's nothing in the warranty that will catch you up later.

I would use the snot out of it, make sure you do whatever they say is right for lubrication, etc. but make sure if it's gonna break it does it under warranty.

John


----------



## Shawn_Laughlin (Jul 29, 2019)

Matkaba633csi I’ve actually completely cleaned the oil grease out of the head and **** and spanned the internals and added new grease and didn’t see any metal chunks. I also squished it through my fingers and I felt very little if anything but grease. So I will investigate some more


----------



## Shawn_Laughlin (Jul 30, 2019)

If it comes to that I will tig braze the holes in the mill column base that I drilled and tapped to bolt the 1/2” steel plate to. It would be a little work but I could do it for sure. But everything I’ve done was to prolong the machine so nothing I’ve done had caused the problems bc I was having the problems before I even started modifying but I complete understand what you are saying. 

I write yesterday about a gib for the compound that was suppose to be in July 1, but then was told November, well it came in yesterday and it is about a 1/4” longer than the original and it doesn’t start to make contact with the dovetails and base and slide until about 1-1/2” or more is sticking out the front side,so I guess you could say it’s long enough ,but it is too thin. They should’ve,like I said send me a whole new compound. If this part was made in the USA I would be fine with only replacing the gib or If it was something like a screw, but being that the time and hassle it takes to get one from China just to end up with what you had pretty much before, then they should replace the whole working unit,especially being that it was bought new 3 month ago. Not happy at all. 

I just ended up drilling and tapping two more holes for grub screws take up the lack of gib thickness. It seems to be working, Just wish it was right.I get it’s a Chinese lathe but this is not bc of that. This is bc of a couple careless Chinese factory workers and maybe Grizzly too for not inspecting the machine correctly.


----------

