# Carriage Feed Quit



## Diaric (Dec 20, 2021)

New member, just learning. Have a new to me, Craftex 9x20 Lathe and mill. Same as Grizzly G4000 and G0704.
I wasn’t expecting to post so soon, but as I was threading today, my carriage feed just suddenly quit half way through.  It just acts like the half nut isn’t engaging, and trying to use the carriage feed lever, it tries to spring back. I have the lead screw off and the apron Carriage removed and nothing looks amiss, just a mess of ancient grease and very little metal filings. The only thing I feel out of place, is the feed lever feels like it’s binding somehow. And watching the gear it slides, only engages the next gear by about half its width, which doesn’t look right. 
Anyone have a link to any rebuild resource or upgrades for the apron? Or have some ideas what to look for, from their own experience?
Thanks for any advice.


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## brino (Dec 20, 2021)

Hello @Diaric

Welcome to the group!

Unfortunately I have nothing else to offer you since I have never had a similar model, or had to tear into one.
What I can say is that hopefully we'll have a few experts stop by here real soon with some useful info!

Hold tight.
-brino

EDIT: I did poke around a bit on the BusyBee website; I had to search by lathe size, since that's all I have.
I found a CT039 manual here:
https://www.busybeetools.com/content/product_manuals/CT039.pdf
However it's labelled as a 9x19" lathe.....page 31 shows the apron parts.
Is it even close to yours?

That manual does have exploded views and part labels.
Maybe the Grizly ones have better manuals......


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## Mitch Alsup (Dec 20, 2021)

Diaric said:


> New member, just learning. Have a new to me, Craftex 9x20 Lathe and mill. Same as Grizzly G4000 and G0704.
> I wasn’t expecting to post so soon, but as I was threading today, my carriage feed just suddenly quit half way through.  It just acts like the half nut isn’t engaging,



The feed screw is still turning ?
There is a pin to prevent the feed screw from chewing up the transmission gears when there is a carriage crash.
Did you crash the carriage on the end of the thread being cut ?



> and trying to use the carriage feed lever, it tries to spring back. I have the lead screw off and the apron Carriage removed and nothing looks amiss, just a mess of ancient grease and very little metal filings. The only thing I feel out of place, is the feed lever feels like it’s binding somehow. And watching the gear it slides, only engages the next gear by about half its width, which doesn’t look right.



There is some attachment of the lever and the shaft which is used to engage the ½ nut. 
Check that the lever is properly attached (flat on the shaft).
You might have to go inside the apron to find some debris preventing reasonable and normal operation.



> Anyone have a link to any rebuild resource or upgrades for the apron? Or have some ideas what to look for, from their own experience?
> Thanks for any advice.


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## Diaric (Dec 20, 2021)

Mitch Alsup said:


> The feed screw is still turning ?
> There is a pin to prevent the feed screw from chewing up the transmission gears when there is a carriage crash.
> Did you crash the carriage on the end of the thread being cut ?
> 
> ...


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## Diaric (Dec 20, 2021)

Yes, the screw is still turning fine, I had to knock it out to take it off.  
As I stated, I have the apron off now. Everything looks attached properly, and I don’t see anything jamming anything up.
There was no crash, it just stopped feeding half way through the pass, and they were very light passes.
I see the half nut closing when I hit the lever but before I took it apart, it felt like it wasn’t. 
From reading threads I have searched, they talk of a key that is in the worm gear, I never saw a key. So I may have to look a little harder here, or where it should be,


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## Janderso (Dec 20, 2021)

Is your name Dick?
That’s my dad’s name
Send us a pic of your lathe.


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## Diaric (Dec 20, 2021)




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## Diaric (Dec 20, 2021)

The Lathe is the same as a Grizzly G4000  or same as the Harbour Freight or Jet 9x20’s

when I undid the carriage from the apron, it felt like the apron just slid loosely along the lead screw, like it wasn’t engaging properly. That’s about the easiest way I have of explaining this


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## Diaric (Dec 20, 2021)

Janderso said:


> Is your name Dick?
> That’s my dad’s name
> Send us a pic of your lathe.


Yes, Richard. 
They used to call me Big Dick at work. Because I’m 6’3 x 250lbs and I could be one lol


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## Bi11Hudson (Dec 21, 2021)

Structurally, the 8X18s, 9X19s, 9X20s and the like are almost identical. Much of the "bragging" about center height and length between centers is a matter of marketing. How deeply the tail center fits into the tailstock. The carriage, well the apron has two different feed mechanisms for feed per revolution versus threading. The feed is driven by half nuts, for threading it uses a key running in a slot on the lead screw. There is an "interlock" to prevent engaging both at the same time. You should concentrate there for a loose piece not rotating fully, allowing the undesired kick out. Other than a piece of scrap on the cam follower, a loose cam is likely the problem. Not an absolute answer, but the apron has a number of adjustments.

.


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## Janderso (Dec 21, 2021)

Diaric said:


> Yes, Richard.
> They used to call me Big Dick at work. Because I’m 6’3 x 250lbs and I could be one lol


My dad was big Dick and his sales manager was large Richard 
Kids.


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## Mitch Alsup (Dec 21, 2021)

My father used the name Dick from the time I was born until his mid 80s.
Then he decided he wanted to be called Richard and stayed that way until he died at 92.


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## Diaric (Dec 21, 2021)

Bi11Hudson said:


> Structurally, the 8X18s, 9X19s, 9X20s and the like are almost identical. Much of the "bragging" about center height and length between centers is a matter of marketing. How deeply the tail center fits into the tailstock. The carriage, well the apron has two different feed mechanisms for feed per revolution versus threading. The feed is driven by half nuts, for threading it uses a key running in a slot on the lead screw. There is an "interlock" to prevent engaging both at the same time. You should concentrate there for a loose piece not rotating fully, allowing the undesired kick out. Other than a piece of scrap on the cam follower, a loose cam is likely the problem. Not an absolute answer, but the apron has a number of adjustments.
> 
> .


I got it degreased today, can see things a little clearer now and it’s not such a greasy pig to handle. 

Thank you sir and bingo. As I said earlier, the gear as seen in the 2nd picture, wasn’t engaging fully. Well suddenly it did engage on me and I figured out why. The screw (circled) was loose and it somehow caused the lever (arrow) to not lift high enough. That lever and it clearing the shaft for the sliding gear, is the safety mechanism for the half nut that you pointed me too. I have to figure out how to get this lever set correctly, so it drops out of the way of the shaft, so the gear can fully engage. Now that I know what needs setting, I’m not so lost. Thank you. 
The half nut, in the third picture, looks a tad worn out, I don’t see any way of adjusting the halfnut to close tighter on the threads or to be looser when disengaged so it doesn’t wear prematurely.  I guess, I best be ordering one from Grizzly. Damn I hate UPS into Canada. My learning curve should continue on soon, thank you all


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## Diaric (Dec 21, 2021)

Oh, and where I said, the lever isn’t lifting high enough, to clear the shaft. It’s really dropping, it upside down on the bench. Maybe I should look into a possible way of adding some spring tension to aid it’s movement.


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## Janderso (Dec 21, 2021)

Mitch Alsup said:


> My father used the name Dick from the time I was born until his mid 80s.
> Then he decided he wanted to be called Richard and stayed that way until he died at 92.


My brother is a Richard, I called him Rick for 60 years. Now he is Richard? Wtf


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## Mitch Alsup (Dec 21, 2021)

Janderso said:


> My brother is a Richard, I called him Rick for 60 years. Now he is Richard? Wtf



An adult should be able to be called any reasonable facsimile of their given name.


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## Diaric (Dec 24, 2021)

update to this.
After what was probably 50 attempts, I finially got everything set and functioning correctly. The lever that stops the carriage feed from engaging when half nut is on and vice versa, appeared to have a very slight bend. Most of my setting issues were with the half nut. It would work fine on bench, but on the lathe, it would engage, then jam up and refuse to disengage.
The half nuts are totally worn out and am trying to order from Grizzly, but their website won’t accept my postal code. And as usual, my email to solve got a reply on the stipulations for Canadian orders. That was all known and understood, i didn’t need that info, but reading my email and solving the issue would be some actual customer service. SMH


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