Hate to bring it up again, but...

[Craig Zettle]

My 1442 headstock faceplate is STILL STUCK! I have tried soaking the threads, using a variety of wrenches, and still no luck. Tonight I put the biggest persuader I could find on the flats, pushed in the headstock spindle lock, gave it a counterclockwise pull, and heard a snap and a clunk as what I believe to be a fin of some kind, broke off the spindle. Tried again, same result. It's spining free now with no way of locking the spindle. I looked at the instructions on removing the spindle, and they don't recommend taking it the whole way out for a belt change, so it must be a bugger to get in and out. I thought if I could take the spindle out I could swap it for one that is not frozen. Now I have a brand new, broke lathe. And it's Friday night, so no one will probably take my call until Monday. Dang.

What do you think? Pack up the headstock and motor and ship out? That would be a pain. I guess I'll find out on Monday.

On a happier note, I did score a nice pile of cherry a couple of days ago.
Back to the flat world for awhile, I guess.

[Jim Becker]

Where did you buy the machine from?

[CPeter James]

Heat wrench, GENTLY!!!! Use an electric heat gun and have a wet cold towel handy to cool the shaft after the face plate comes off or if it does not come off, before the heat can travel too far. Do not heat it much over the sizzle point (212º). One lesson I have learned in 60 years or working on things is that brute force breaks things. I still do it from time to time, but it almost always results in disaster.

My suggestion is this. Secure to the face place, a piece of steel with a large nut welded to it. Use an impact wrench on the large nut. Vibration will loosen much more the brute force. As for penetrating oil, it is needed for rusted or corroded connections and may only provide minimal help in this situation. My choice is PB Blaster or Kroil if you can get it. PB Blaster is everywhere. The can looks like it contains "snake oil" but it works better than any of the locally available products. I work on antique tractors and they get rusty. I have amazed at how well it works.

CPeter

[Jeff Moffett]

If you call WMH Tool Group, you might find that it can be serviced locally. A while back, I had some issues with my 1442, so they asked me to bring it to a local service center. My lathe was a year old and they swapped it out for a brand new one. My guess is they'll make it right for you.

[Craig Zettle]

I purchased the lathe through Southern Tool, but I believe that they are just the middleman, because the lathe shipped from WMH tool group.

The local repair sounds like a good deal, but my area is devoid of any Jet dealers, which is why I buy almost all my equipment over the phone or internet.

[Paul Zerjay]

If it was me, I'd try an oil filter wrench on the handwheel and your persuader (sp) on the faceplate. It will probably take two guys but you should be able to muscle it off. I had a 1442 and the spindle lock was knocking the teeth loose too. You would think Jet could come up with a better way to lock the spindle than using a pot metal gear.

[Bob Opsitos]

The welded nut sounds reasonable but welding to cast iron face plate well enough to take the load could be a challenge. Maybe weld the nut to a chuck of metal and drill through holes in the metal and secure to face plate with bolts.

Doesn't the spindle have a cross hole someplace? My delta has a blind cross hole in the front part of the spindle to stick in the knock out bar for sutuations just like this.

Can you hold the spindle directly in any way? Pipe wrench on a non threaded, exposed section of spindle?

You also might try filing a notch in the face plate that would allow you to smack it with hammer directly or with a chuck of wood and a hammer, in the loosening direction.

Good luck.

Bob

[joe greiner]

On the headstock side of the faceplate, put the short leg of a SURPLUS allen wrench in one of the screw holes, so that the long leg extends across the hub in the direction of removal. Hit the long leg with a hammer. DIY impact wrench.

Joe

[Nathan Camp]

Craig,

Sorry to hear you are still having trouble with your new lathe . In another thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=56347) George Tokarev suggested a couple of strap wrenches (one for each side of the spindle).

If that does not work, all I can suggest is calling the manufacturer. I did not think I would ever get that faceplate off the first time, but once it came off, I have not had any more trouble.

You might try to tighten it a bit (~ 1/16to 1/8"). That may help break it free if it will move at all in the other direction. Three or four people on this forum all bought the same lathe at about the same time and had similar problems.

I'm sure WHM will make it right, but its a bummer not to get to play with your new lathe.

Good Luck,

Nathan

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Tonight I put the biggest persuader I could find on the flats, pushed in the headstock spindle lock, gave it a counterclockwise pull, and heard a snap and a clunk as what I believe to be a fin of some kind, broke off the spindle. Tried again, same result. It's spining free now with no way of locking the spindle. I looked at the instructions on removing the spindle, and they don't recommend taking it the whole way out for a belt change, so it must be a bugger to get in and out. I thought if I could take the spindle out I could swap it for one that is not frozen.

Craig, first things first. It is not a broken spindle(good thing) it is, however, sounding like the stops on [62] right spindle pulley of the Reeves drive [JWL1442-162], have broken off (Bad thing). That pulley is made of aluminum and the tabs can break under too much pressure. What worries me is that there is more than one tab on the pully shaft that would have to break in order for the spindle to spinn free as you say it does. With that in mind there may be some other part breakage involved as well. You won't know untill you are inside the headstock. WMH is good about replacing broken parts on new lathes. so I would guess they will replace that pulley and maybe even the spindle if they determine it to be defective. It should not be that difficult to remove the faceplate. You are talking about the faceplate that is meant to mount to your project and not the hand wheel is that correct? The hand-wheel is the bright aluminum disk on the back of the headstock and it has reverse threads and locking screws. As to taking the spindle out, it is a bear, but with patience you should be able to do it. I personally found re-assembly more difficult than taking it apart. Taking the spindle only part way out was more difficult than taking it all the way out. Hope this helps a little. PM me if I can help you any more.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

FYI, you can weld Cast fairly well with a MIG welder running straight steel wire and Argon gas shield.

Good luck!

[Craig Zettle]

Thanks for all the advice, I am not a welder so that is not an option, and I think I will try to research the exact problem by removing the pulley cover. I have been curious as to how the headstock spindle lock works (is supossed to work) anyway. I also could use the headstock indexing pin to hold the spindle while I turn the faceplate, I just didn't want to go that route for fear of hurting something, but it is too late for that.

You know, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out, because I'm the kind of person that believes that new tools should work right out of the box with a minimum of fuss.

[CPeter James]

"Secure to the face place, a piece of steel with a large nut welded to it."

Do not weld to the face plate!!! Please read the original post. Please note that brute force breaks things!!

Plan "B"
Bolt a steel bar to the face plate and strike the end of the bar with a hammer while holding the hand wheel. DO NOT use the spindal lock as you will break off more teeth. The impact will do more good than anything else. A little heat will help.

CPeter

[Cory Martin]

Craig, once you get the pulley cover off you will notice that there are several teeth on the spindle as chris pointed out. After I broke a couple off mine i removed the cover and noticed that where the spindle is secured to the shaft there are two set screws that are used to hold it on.
The teeth are larger here. So I set the spindle lock against one of these and drew an arrow on the inside of the handwheel so I would know when I was against the heavest part of the spindle. Might not be of help now, but maybe in the future after you get it off the first time.

[Bill Wyko]

I don't know if this is recomended but you could use your degree pin to lock the spindle. It's the nurled pencil shaped pin that came with your lathe.