PM-1660TL

[Ianagos]

As far as your lead screw situation. Is your feed rod turning?

On every machine I’ve ever used there is a lever to change between the feed rod and the lead screw.

On most of these big machines the feed screw and the feed rod are separate. On many small machines I have seen it’s all together.

Take a picture of all your levers there and a picture of your carriage and I’ll try to direct you to the correct knob.

Please note I don’t own this machine I’ve just ran a few different types of machines so I may be wrong.

 

[mksj]

I would follow the directions in the manual, you have the gearbox feed in HIGH when it is suppose to be in LOW. The high gear is limited in speed and I have never used it on mine, only used for DP threads. Look at the feed chart on the right and set it to something like 0.004"/rev. Never change gears with the machine running, always wiggle the chuck when changing gears and make sure they are fully engaged. I usually will just bump the jog momentary to make sure everything is engaged.

 

[erikmannie]

As far as your lead screw situation. Is your feed rod turning?

On every machine I’ve ever used there is a lever to change between the feed rod and the lead screw.

On most of these big machines the feed screw and the feed rod are separate. On many small machines I have seen it’s all together.

Take a picture of all your levers there and a picture of your carriage and I’ll try to direct you to the correct knob.

Please note I don’t own this machine I’ve just ran a few different types of machines so I may be wrong.

The feed rod is not turning, either. I will be curious to know how one goes about getting the leadscrew to rotate.

Here are some pictures:

 

[erikmannie]

I would follow the directions in the manual, you have the gearbox feed in HIGH when it is suppose to be in LOW. The high gear is limited in speed and I have never used it on mine, only used for DP threads. Look at the feed chart on the right and set it to something like 0.004"/rev. Never change gears with the machine running, always wiggle the chuck when changing gears and make sure they are fully engaged. I usually will just bump the jog momentary to make sure everything is engaged.

I went through many “FEED” choices because, as one would expect, I wasn’t going to start off threading.

I am going to go through the manual for a second time. I must be missing something big regarding this leadscrew situation.

Things are looking good here:

 

[erikmannie]

Apparently I am still a little worn out from my work week. I think all that I have left in me for today is to re-read the manual and clean off the cosmoline.

I sent an email to Precision Matthews regarding the leadscrew mystery.

 

[erikmannie]

Here’s a picture inside the feed clutch area:

 

[mksj]

Erik,
You need to move the spindle while trying to engage the gears in the gearbox, put the gearbox speed lever in low first, then slowly turn the spindle until you feel the gear lever fully engage. The handle will directly line up with the letter. In the picture above the handles are between the B and C position and R and S. It takes some time to get this all worked out and to get the feel when the gears are properly engaged.

This is my lathe set to 20TPI for the Lead Screw, LB3SV, note the levers directly line up with the letters:

This is the Feed Rod set to LCT4W for 0.003"/R, the levers are directly under the letters when viewed directly on. You can change the carriage direction either by changing the Forward Reverse lever on the headstock OR pushing/pulling the feed direction on the carriage (make sure it is fully engaged). When doing higher feed rates I use the column on the left on the feed table so 0.011"/R would be LCR4W.

 

[erikmannie]

Erik,
You need to move the spindle while trying to engage the gears in the gearbox, put the gearbox speed lever in low first, then slowly turn the spindle until you feel the gear lever fully engage. The handle will directly line up with the letter. In the picture above the handles are between the B and C position and R and S. It takes some time to get this all worked out and to get the feel when the gears are properly engaged.

This is my lathe set to 20TPI for the Lead Screw, LB3SV, note the levers directly line up with the letters:
View attachment 341689

This is the Feed Rod set to LCT4W for 0.003"/R, the levers are directly under the letters when viewed directly on. You can change the carriage direction either by changing the Forward Reverse lever on the headstock OR pushing/pulling the feed direction on the carriage (make sure it is fully engaged). When doing higher feed rates I use the column on the left on the feed table so 0.011"/R would be LCR4W.
View attachment 341691

This could well be the issue: not all gears fully engaged. I have been using the jog button, but I think I will try putting the spindle in neutral so that I can feel the gears drop in.

I just had a “machinist student” neighbor drop by. He set the machine to 3 different gear configurations (2 feed and 1 thread). He was having a hard time engaging the levers & I had him use the jog button. We could not get either the feed or the leadscrew to rotate.

Maybe the “Low“ lever has not yet engaged.

I guess we could compare this to back when we all learned to drive a manual transmission.

 

[Ianagos]

I was going to say the same as above.

Try turning the spindle by hand as you put all the levers in the left most position and feel for the engagement. Even on my old lathe I jog the spindle slowly as I change the gears.
But on yours I think you have to manually turn it by hand a bit.

I’m also surprised by the huge selection of knobs on your machine. Mine does similar with many less knobs.

It seems your machine does not have a knob to switch between feed and lead screw though. So I’m assuming they just both turn all the time.

 

[erikmannie]

This is a .0033” feed, LCT8W. We have feed rod rotation! I am SO happy! Also, power feeds on the carriage & cross slide.