Leaking Oil Help

PM1236T has a Norton open gearbox, so by its nature it is a complete loss system and drips into the pan. An important reason to use an oil resistant sealant around the mounting bolt holes and pan when mounting your lathe into the stand. I have done a number of pump oilers for this gearbox that uses a manifold system. People put drip pans under the open gears. They rarely have issues of oil leaking from the headstock, I did have some carriage seepage through one of the shaft plugs. The 136T/1340GT are reliable well made lathes at the price point.

Regarding the closed gearbox reassembly, I would do it dry until you have it worked out as to an assembly procedure. PM may be able to give you some guidance. A bit challenging on reassembly but you may be able to map out the gear position for each knob and work backwards so start out with the S I for the right two knobs, then work on the A position, and then 1 position on the left two knobs. Always worthwhile to take lots of photos of everything when pulling things apart.

Norton Gearbox Drip Pan.jpg
 
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QMT agreed to met me ship it back to them to see if they could get it back together.

I wouldn’t let this stop you from using your PM lathe. I went with a cheaper Chinese version for one. And to be fair the leak did get fixed pretty easily. And I can say they’ve been responsive, helpful, and even comped me some other tooling to make up for my troubles. Which can’t be said for other brands. It’s just one of those things when you’re dealing with import machines.
 
mksj said:
PM1236T has a Norton open gearbox, so by its nature it is a complete loss system and drips into the pan. An important reason to use an oil resistant sealant around the mounting bolt holes and pan when mounting your lathe into the stand. I have done a number of pump oilers for this gearbox that uses a manifold system. People put drip pans under the open gears. They rarely have issues of oil leaking from the headstock, I did have some carriage seepage through one of the shaft plugs. The 136T/1340GT are reliable well made lathes at the price point.

Regarding the closed gearbox reassembly, I would do it dry until you have it worked out as to an assembly procedure. PM may be able to give you some guidance. A bit challenging on reassembly but you may be able to map out the gear position for each knob and work backwards so start out with the S I for the right two knobs, then work on the A position, and then 1 position on the left two knobs. Always worthwhile to take lots of photos of everything when pulling things apart.

View attachment 502667
Click to expand...

Someone a few posts back mentioned the shift blocks were supposed to ride on a key way. There’s no alignment device on the shafts like that that the blocks ride on. So when you install the faceplate if the gears don’t mesh they rotate the blocks. I was able to get them to mesh but I had to rotate the blocks up, which allowed the brass shifting “forks” to fall out and bind. Of all 18-20 tries I haven’t been able to get all of them to align at the same time. I was even trying to stick a 4mm allen wrench through the drain hole to do it.
As far as the photos, I did take them. But even following them it didn’t work. Now I’ve tried all knobs in all positions. No luck.

Fingers crossed they can get it back together. Which, for a parts only warranty, I think shows a level of customer service you aren’t going to get from most other brands. I did have to pay the shipping costs though, lol. Which I think is fair.
 
wnchstrtnfldvlle said:
Someone a few posts back mentioned the shift blocks were supposed to ride on a key way. There’s no alignment device on the shafts like that that the blocks ride on. So when you install the faceplate if the gears don’t mesh they rotate the blocks. I was able to get them to mesh but I had to rotate the blocks up, which allowed the brass shifting “forks” to fall out and bind. Of all 18-20 tries I haven’t been able to get all of them to align at the same time. I was even trying to stick a 4mm allen wrench through the drain hole to do it.
As far as the photos, I did take them. But even following them it didn’t work. Now I’ve tried all knobs in all positions. No luck.

Fingers crossed they can get it back together. Which, for a parts only warranty, I think shows a level of customer service you aren’t going to get from most other brands. I did have to pay the shipping costs though, lol. Which I think is fair.
Click to expand...
The raised shoulders on the cover obviously hold the shift blocks flush and in plane with the gears on the cover once assembled. The issue is the shoulders don't engage until AFTER the shift blocks and cover gears are already meshed together. So how to fake the raised shoulders during assembly to keep the shift blocks flush until things are meshed and the cover shoulders can take over.

One method, lay metal strips across the shift blocks to keep them flush and in plane with the gears on the cover during assembly. I'd stack 2 each on top of each other so I could lower the cover down in 2 steps. Removing the first strip would lower the cover just enough to get the gears and shift blocks engaged, but not enough that the shift blocks can rotate out of whack. Jiggle the handles around until everything is meshed then remove the 2nd metal strips to lower the cover fully in place.

Or some variation on the same to get control of the shift blocks during assembly, strong magnets etc.

gearbox.jpeg
 
I appreciate the helpful advice. At this point the gearbox is on its way to QMT for them to see about getting it back together.
 
Update:

They still have the gearbox. In a way I don't mind that it's giving them some difficulties, because that tells me I wasn't as inept as I was starting to think. lol. But unfortunately, they had it assembled and ready to ship back and realized the knobs were still sticking. I'm hopeful we get this figured out soon, but thought I would update for those that may be following for whatever reason.
 
WELL THIS POST DOESN'T MAKE ME FEEL ALL WARM AND FUZZY!! How old is your lathe? I have the same exact problem with the same exact leak on the same exact lathe and I just pulled the face plate off. Why do you feel you could not get the cover back on??
Any chance you got a DXF file to cut that gasket out with??
 
Update 2:

It’s not good. Got the gearbox installed. The knobs were moving okay, so I went ahead and started to fill it with oil. Immediate leak, almost at a steady stream out of the bottom of the seal. So I’m now worse off than when I sent it in. It’s a little disappointing that PM staff couldn’t get it right either.

As good as they’ve been through the process, I think with this lathe and the others reporting their own leaking issues with the 1440-2V, this model is a bust.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do next. Monday I’m going to call and ask to speak to Matt directly, but I’m ready to just get rid of it at this point.
 
That’s not good. I did not see anything wrong with the gasket on mine so I cleaned everything as good as possible and then put gasket maker on it and put it back together. I let it sit for a few days and it was still leaking on the back side of that cover plate.
I called Mike today and he told me he had no one else’s gear box there they were working on.
He has been nice but I am with you, this has been nothing but problems since day one. I am wondering if the casting isn’t leaking. I asked for a DXF file to get a gasket cut and they won’t give me one so now I have to wait 3 weeks for the order to come in hoping there is no damage from shipping and I refuse to cut one with a knife and scissors.
This is becoming a nightmare.

Yours is a 2v right? How old is it?
 
feel bad for you guys. I've spoken with Mike before. hope he wasn't being evasive. I guess technically since they had already shipped the gearbox back to wnchstrtnfldvlle, he was telling the truth?
 
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