Cleaning and inspecting my new Clausing 6913

[Dhector]

I can gaurantee I wouldn't have seen it if mine didn't have an issue with they very part. I pulled mine apart an excessive amount of times!!!! I'm sure I don't have to tell you but check that oil level as well. When I got mine it was totally empty!

 

[papa-roe]

I got my magnet down into the drain area of the headstock. The debris looks like welding BBs that got smashed by the gears. There is a piece of one tooth, some turned chips and assorted residue.

 

[TakeDeadAim]

IF you have single phase going into the VFD and Three phase coming out then the VFD must be doing something. If the unit were dead it would not be converting single into 3 phase. I double checked mine, Hatachi, and it as no output unless the unit is powered up.

 

[Dhector]

I got my magnet down into the drain area of the headstock. The debris looks like welding BBs that got smashed by the gears. There is a piece of one tooth, some turned chips and assorted residue.View attachment 244569

Theres a ball chain inside that gear box. I wonder if thats where the "BB's" came from. I wish I would have taken pics of mine with the cover off now. On your "chowdered teeth.JPG" i see a chain. I BELIEVE that should be a ball chain. My gearbox has a ball chain in it but not sure on location(due to memory), but it is in there, and in that gearbox. I wonder if someone in the past broke the "Ball chain- part number 051-045 on page 21.1 in the owners manual) and put that chain in there to take its place. My assumption is it used to bring oil up to the shaft an gears for lubrication. I really nned to get my cover off and take some pics for you.

 

[Dhector]

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/resources/clausing-6900-series-lathes-manual-pdf.1620/

Link to the manual

 

[Wreck™Wreck]

I got my magnet down into the drain area of the headstock. The debris looks like welding BBs that got smashed by the gears. There is a piece of one tooth, some turned chips and assorted residue.View attachment 244569

There is a loop of ball chain in the head stock, it hangs loosely around one of the shafts and rotates through the oil dragging it up for lubrication.

 

[papa-roe]

I see what you are talking about. That makes sense that it might have broken and someone replaced it with a link chain. That also explains the the wire like things coming out of the BBs. The link chain is doing it's job. I noticed the other day that it was bringing oil up to the shaft. That is certainly a more appealing explanation than ball bearings that broke loose.

 

[papa-roe]

I supplied power to the VFD today and the lathe is running well. Earlier (October 15th) I was having issues. I had a broken ground wire and I was only supplying 20amps when the VFD calls for 30amps (my mistake). I got those two issues resolved and all is well. I refilled the headstock with DTE 24 and added DTE 26 to the quick change gear box to bring it up to level. I ran it just long enough set some parameters on the VFD, run the lead screw forward and reverse and see how well it powered the carriage. I ended up shearing the aluminum rivet that a former owner had put in place of the original shear pin. It might have worked if it wasn't so much smaller than the hole.
I set the display to show rpm rather than hertz. I dialed it in and now it is showing pretty accurately with a low of 87 at 3 hertz to 1735 at 60 hertz. I put the 3 jaw chuck on and put an indicator on it. It runs true within 4. btw those chucks are heavy. Luckily, I knew to put a board across the bed to prevent damage. I need to finish cleaning this week so that I can get serious with my new toy.

 

[Dhector]

I finally got the cover off my machine and got some pics for you to compare to. I didnt get a decent pic of the teeth wear but what I saw in yours was similar to mine. Didnt seem to be a concern in my opinion.

 

[papa-roe]

I got carried and and removed the saddle, apron and lead screw to start cleaning. Dhector look at the threading dial gear (DL-628). It doesn't look anything like the picture on page 33-2 (33-1 for the earlier lathe version) in the manual (lower right of page). I have both versions of the manual. lol