Problems with 3520B tailstock quill: Suggestions?

[Hilel Salomon]

A while back, I dropped my PM 3520B tailstock with the quill slightly extended. Ever since then, moving the quill can be quite exhausting. from about 2" and longer it moves relatively smoothly until a point (toward the end) where it becomes very hard. Getting it to move shorter than 2" is painstakingly difficult. I tried looking for a replacement quill (or even a tailstock if I can afford it) to no avail. Any suggestions?


:confused:

[Hayes Rutherford]

The first thing I would do is remove the quill and thoroughly clean everything, lightly lubricate, put back together and try it. You may have already done this but hopefully debris has been jolted and moved around and is causing the problem.

[John Keeton]

Have you checked whether your centers align at various extensions of the quill? Seems that may indicate whether the quill is bent slightly causing it to bind. Just a thought.

[John K Jordan]

Check internal parts for damage, straightness. You might be able to see and fix the problem. A good machine shop can repair or rebuild almost anything.

JKJ

[Dennis Ford]

I agree with Hayes and John; take it apart and clean it. It may have gotten dinged up, you could fix that with a file. If it is bent then you will need a replacement, probably expensive. Do you have a machinist friend?

[Joe Kaufman]

Check the lead screw on the tailstock, the threads may be damaged.
The Powermatic tailstock swingaway is $240 right now. I just ordered one. Available from several places.

[Hilel Salomon]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I had cleaned it up, but it never hurts to clean it again. The centering is very slightly off when extended. Whatever the cause, it is not evident to the naked eye. I also released the side screw a little bit. If this continues, I'll take it to a machine shop.

[John Keeton]

I think I would be more interested in whether the centers line up at various amounts of quill extension rather than if is just of at full extension. If they line up with 1" of extension, but not at 3", that would seem to indicate the quill being bent. Just being off at any given point could be related to a number of factors.

[Roger Chandler]

If the threads on the quill screw are buggered up a little, and that is what is causing the difficulty, then take it apart and get a die of the correct size and staighten the threads out......should be cheaper than repacing the entire quill, or machine shop.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

While your quill is out, roll it on a flat surface. That will tell you if it's bent. If it is bent, you can probably get it straight enough if you know someone who has a hydraulic press. There's not a lot of room in there. Any bit of not being straight will cause what you say.

[allen thunem]

If memory serves when i had to replace my quill they weren't terribly expensive . But the term expensive is relative.
I think less than 80 bucks. But when got it i had to tweak it a bit to get it to run smoothly.
filing sanding etc..etc

[Jon Nuckles]

Just checked ereplacementparts and the quill is $54.60. Didn't check what they charge to ship.

[Mike Peace]

I helped someone whose quill was hard to turn. Seems the screw that rides in the slot had gotten loose and boogered up the edges a little. Very difficult to spot the problem but when we did, all it took was a little filing with a fine file. The tolerances of the quill inside the tailstock housing are pretty close. You just need to look and feel closely what areas might have been dinged.