Unable to Swivel 1054TV Mill Head to Vertical After Shipping

[Bendias]

Attempting to swivel the head to vertical (from the as-shipped orientation) and it’s bound up at 37 degrees. All 4 head mounting bolts are just-loose, and head is supported while swiveling, per the manual. I've tried supporting it/taking weight off the joint from different angles, but nothing so far seems to work. The supporting load is aligned with the joint, and perpendicular to the swivel-axis (of rotation), so there should be no binding moments being introduced that way.

PM tech support advises that I back off to ~ 45 degrees, jiggle the head some, then try again to advance it. One challenge is “jiggling” a 200#+ part that is 7' up, off the floor. But with the jiggling I am able to do, I can feel relative motion between the head and the ram when it’s backed up to 45 degrees, but all that motion stops when I reach the bind-point (37 degrees). As it binds, I’m finding 1 or 2 of the head mounting bolts have snugged just to the point of no longer free-turning. Using a wrench to back them off just a few degrees frees them again, but it doesn’t fix the binding issue. PM's response to this is to try removing the head mounting bolt(s) that has become stuck, 1 at a time, to free any jams/binding they might be causing. I tried backing them way out, 1 at a time, but no joy so far. Any attempt to advance further results in a different head bolt becoming snugged. So, I’m stuck at 37 degrees, literally.

I’ll be back on the phone with PM tomorrow, but figured I throw this up on the forum in the meantime, in case anyone has similar experience or other suggestions for how to resolve this issue. I’ve thrown in a pic showing where I’m at.

 

[St. Paul Steam]

Seems like an obvious question, but you are using the worm screw rotating nut with a wrench...correct ? & a little bit of spray lube around the rotating joint.

 

[GrifterGuru]

Daft questions most likely but what immediately come to mind in such instances..

Is the head designed to rotate through 360 degees or does it have a stop in one direction to prevent that?

Have you tried rotating it in the opposite direction?

 

[woodchucker]

sounds like a worm problem. I imagine with that crane you'll wind up having to remove the nuts, and pull the head off to see what is going on in there.
I suspect whatever it is will become more obvious at that point.
put a board on the table to protect it.

 

[davidpbest]

Have a look at this thread.

PM-1054TV Mill with broken worm shaft - help needed

First time poster! I picked up a PM-1054TV Mill and 1640TL lathe which was recently delivered and I am setting up. Unfortunately when I loosened the 4 front bolts on the mill head and tried to turn the worm gear to tilt the head up from its shipping position (while having someone support it and...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[Bendias]

St Paul Steam - Yes, I am using the worm/pinion screw near the head/ram joint (bolt #1 in Figure 2-2 of the 2021 copyright version of the PM manual).

Moreover, I used the crane to support/take load off the worm gear since the beginning of this op and have been careful not to overload the worm. The worm screw has turned fairly easily as I have rotated the head clockwise (as viewed from the operator’s position) from ~ 120 degrees (as shipped) down thru ~ 40 degrees (as indicated on the scale located on the ram/head joint). But passing further down thru 40 degrees, toward vertical, it becomes progressively harder to turn, until the resisting torque gets to the max I'm comfortable with (again using support in various orientations via the crane). This stops me at 37 degrees. I even tried (gently) without the crane - no joy. All 4 head mounting bolts were tight as received so hard to fathom how it could've broke in transit. PM installed some accessories and they say they went thru everything before it left and it was good to go. It would suck to have to disassemble a brand new mill, as suggested in davidpbest’s thread, but not like I can just send it back. Guess we'll see what PM says tomorrow.

 

[netmagi]

Completely different mill, so likely not the same thing, but on my 728, If I loosen the bolts a little too much, the t-bolts will bind when I get to a certain degrees of rotation (which aligns with the holes to remove it entirely). Reversing, tightening the bolts to where they are just loose enough to allow rotation, and trying again resolved it.

 

[matthewsx]

If you can get a helper to support it manually that might be better than the gantry.

John

 

[qualitymachinetools]

Those are T Bolts, sometimes they get hung up in the T Slots, as mentioned above there can be a little bit of a fine line loosening just enough so it rotates but they don't get hung up. I always use a ratchet and push up on the head while turning to raise it. They put the power drawbar on and the head is up vertical for everything here, then lowered, so I am sure its just a bolt hanging up.