Rephrased: My tailstock quill/leadscrew is frozen.

[Dan Forman]

Same problem as before, but I now know the correct names of the parts. The quill/leadscrew assembly from the tailstock on my PM 3520 lathe are frozen, so that the whole assembly is inoperable. The handwheel won't turn the screw, so the quill will not advance. I was able to remove the quill/screw from the tailstock, but though the manual shows them as two distinct parts, they are stuck fast together. Since the quill is in the retracted position, it won't accept the live center, so the whole tailstock assembly is useless. Has anyone experienced this before? I guess I'll have to call their service dept tomorrow. Hope there is an easy fix, and I won't have to wait for a new part.

Edit: I solved the problem with a few judicious taps with a wooden mallet, but this is about the third time this has happened. The other freezes were undone without having to remove the quill, so each time it happens, it seems to get worse. I still would like to know if this has happened to anyone else, as I'll probably still call PM service dept about it. It's pretty messy to correct, lots of grease in there.

Dan

[Barry Elder]

Shouldn't be a problem for cs to replace the quill and leadscrew. Probably had some asian slag in it and caused the threads to jam. Not all parts are "quality controlled". Glad you solved your problem, even if it is temporary. Wouldn't want you to go into "Wood DTs"!

[Steve Campbell]

Dan I'm sure the factory will make it right with you. But until they get the new parts to you I would use your knock out bar to remove the live center. That way you won't have to turn the quill all the way to the end.

Steve

[Lonnie Cook]

Dan:

Don't know if this would be the problem on a "real" lathe, but ...

The tailstock quill on my lil Delta Midi froze. It happened after I used the tailstock to drill holes into a workpiece with a drill chuck. The drilling caused the quill to rotate against the locking screw and wallow out the chase on the quill in which the locking screw travels as I advanced the chuck. This raised the lip of the chase which wedged the quill into tailstock.

I filed down the raised lip. All is well. Probably will have to do it agaiin the next time I drill.

BTW - Hi, all. This is my first post to SMC.

- Lonnie

[robert hainstock]

Since I haven't seen it mentioned on SMC be fore, I'll throw this into the pile for consideration. While i agree that extraneous lumps of metal left in after drilling are possibly a big part of the problem, ( I just dd that to my quill last week). I find that an application of a product called Break[Free can greatly reduce steel to steel lockups. Like I said, for what it's worth.:)
Bob