I cannot engage power quill feed on PM-1054

[erikmannie]

I have this brand new knee mill. I’ve been using it about 2 weeks. When I first bought it, I *was* able to engage the power feed on the quill, and do so quite easily.

As it is now (I don’t know what changed), I need to use my hand to keep the lever (lever C in the Bridgeport drawing below) out, and then the power quill feed *will* function.

I also included pictures from the PM-1054 manual.

It seems to me that the clutch release is set way too loosely, and so I cannot engage the power feed (without holding the lever by hand) because the clutch has it permanently disengaged. I called Precision Matthews, and they also seem to think it was a clutch adjustment issue. If not that issue, then maybe some parts in there are not aligned.

Precision Matthews is going to get back to me, but he suggested that I post on here to see if anyone else has had this same problem.

I may have been ever so slightly rough on the machine at one point recently because I was using the power feed on the z-axis to move the table up as I was making a .060” radial cut in structural steel (A36 hot roll) while boring. The power feed was sent a lot higher than I wanted, and it crashed the tool such that it bent the cheap Chinese carbide tipped 1/2” shank boring bar.

I am having trouble uploading the photo from the Bridgeport manual. I also uploaded a photo of the feed trip adjustment knob on my machine.

 

[erikmannie]

I am trying to upload that photo from the Bridgeport manual again.

 

[erikmannie]

So to clarify, everything works as it should if I hold out lever C above by hand.

Note that I cannot follow the instructions in the Bridgeport manual verbatim because lever C does not stay out (“power quill feed engaged”) by itself. I could, however, make an adjustment and then try it. I have not done this yet because I’m waiting to hear what you guys and Precision Matthews say.

 

[erikmannie]

This is what PM suggested:

“So I went out and looked at our machine, and I think you just need to loosen that lock nut and back off that screw, allowing the rod to lower further. That push rod is too far up, tripping the powerfeed as if it had gotten to the end of its travel. That's why you can override it by pulling out on the handle.”

I can’t try that yet because I am standing in a long line at Harbor Freight (buying flap disks & stone wheels).

 

[erikmannie]

In order to show the level of abuse that my new knee mill is seeing, here’s a picture of the result of the tool crash. I don’t know if it matters, but this boring bar is made in China. It is supposed to be straight, ya know.

 

[erikmannie]

Following Charlie’s (the tech guy at Precision Matthews) advice, I fixed this issue in about 30 seconds.

Just like in his advice, I loosened the nut and backed out the set screw a full turn. Now everything is hunky dory, and I am very happy.

 

[Winegrower]

I'm glad we could help.

 

[erikmannie]

So after I did that, the clutch *would engage and stop it from feeding* but the mechanism would click (and the quill would not spring back up as it should).

Not surprisingly, I turned the set screw back in a half turn, and it all tests okay now.

Bottom line:

If the adjustment set screw is too far in, you have the problem that I laid out in the title of this thread. If the adjustment setscrew is too far out, you can engage the power feed and the disengagement clutch functions, but the mechanism clicks (and the quill will not spring back up). There is a happy medium there, and I found it to be within a half turn of the adjustment screw.

 

[mmcmdl]

In order to show the level of abuse that my new knee mill is seeing, here’s a picture of the result of the tool crash. I don’t know if it matters, but this boring bar is made in China. It is supposed to be straight, ya know.

If it bends one way , it'll bend the other way ! Bend it back and use it if you can , boring bars don't have to be straight , they run eccentricly anyway .

 

[erikmannie]

If it bends one way , it'll bend the other way ! Bend it back and use it if you can , boring bars don't have to be straight , they run eccentricly anyway .

I will bend it back!