72" Webster and Bennett shearing feed box shaft,, need help

hello my Name is Chris

We have broken the feed box shaft that mates up to the table shaft 3 times in a row.
The machine seems to be some how getting into 2 gears at once. when we rapid traverse then come out of traverse it snaps the shaft. on one instance when we turned the machine on and it snapped immediately.

any ideas on what could be happening or what we can do to fix it?

Is your machine a DH style machine, the type with the hydraulic control console mounted on the side of the column ?

Regards Tyrone.

yes it has the control box on the side.

If it helps any the serial number is 6785-2 and the Wickman number is 760121. the first time it broke we replaced all bearings and made sure all the Hydraulic lines were clear and had good pressure on them before we re-installed it back on the machine. When the machine was energized and the table engaged the shaft sheared. The last time it sheared was yesterday after running it working a job for 4 hours.

Do you mean the shaft that runs from the feed box up to the cross rail ? Where abouts is it breaking ? A couple of photos are worth a thousand words.

Regards Tyrone.

We have not taken it back off yet or i would send pictures. the shaft that is breaking is the #8113, 1st feed box shaft. It is breaking at the housing. the gear on the 1st feed box shaft mates to the main shaft that runs the table. i am going to remove the box and snap a few pics. give me 30 minutes, thanks alot.

That's good. All my drawings are in the loft and it'd be tomorrow before I can get up there now. I need something to refresh my memory, it's 15-20 years since I had a DH gearbox out.

Regards Tyrone.

It looks like we did more damage this time to another gear and the housing.

ctwarren said:

It looks like we did more damage this time to another gear and the housing.View attachment 208374View attachment 208375View attachment 208376

Click to expand...

Yeah that looks like bad news. I think your theory of two feed box gears being engaged at the same time may be correct. I can't really think of another reason for a shaft like that to fail. I'll bet it went with a bang.

As I recall the gear shifters should be interlocked to prevent this happening. I'll need to have a look at my drawings tomorrow just to be sure what should be happening in the feed box.

I worked on quite a few " Webbies " over the years and that breakage is a new one on me.

Do you have the shafts made or can you get genuine " W&B " spare parts.

Regards Tyrone.

The first shaft we broke I purchased from Wickman. The second two I had made because of the lead time. Any help you can give me I would appreciate it.

I've retrieved my handbooks from the loft. I don't have details for the 72" machines but I do have literature for the 60" machines and I can't see why there should be major differences between the two sizes of machines regarding the feed box assembly.

When you've had breakages in the past did you dismantle the feed box completely or did you just replace the broken shaft ? Why I'm asking is that it appears to me that the broken gear meshes directly with the " free wheel ". Have you checked that the " freewheel " is working correctly and isn't jammed in any way.

If I were you when the gearbox is re-assembled I'd sit it near to the machine but in a position where you see what's going on, join the oil lines up with lengths of tubing, and run the feed selector and see wether the gears move correctly. You can turn the gears over by hand using the big gear that meshes with the gear on the table drive shaft. Be sure to turn it in the correct direction. I think it's because of the " freewheel " that there should be a label telling you not to revolve the chuck backwards by hand. You may need to sit the gearbox in some sort of tray because the hydraulic system will probably leak from the cylinders.

Obviously this issue needs resolving so you need to be prepared to spend some time and effort finding out what's going wrong. Have you spoken to " Wickman " regarding the problem ?

Also have you called TR Wigglesworth in Bedford, Ohio. They were long time " Webster & Bennett " dealers in the USA.
Phone (440) 232-6600
Email ..:: TR Wigglesworth Machinery Company - Home ::..

They do repairs and service at $129 an hour plus travel and expenses.

Regards Tyrone.

Tyrone,

After inspecting the feed box before we disassembled it I found a few things that don't add up. It could be my mechanic or that this gearbox was worked on previously before i bought the machine. What I found is that more than a few gears have slack in them laterally on the shaft. I cant see where this is correct. The gears should be hard up to the lock ring and all the slack taken up by the caps on the ends. The only thing that should be moving is the shift dogs. Being that this was all loose I found a lock ring that had moved out of its groove and was allowing the gear to vibrate down the shaft and interlock with the shift dog at the same time it was engaged to another gear. This locks the gear box up 100%. I spun it by hand numerous times until it happened.
What we are going to try is to hard position all gears in their spot and let the shift dogs do the work. I am also building a Micarta gear that engages into the table shaft gear so if it locks up I don't damage the entire gear box I will just be out a Micarta gear.

What are your thoughts? Shouldn't the gears be 100% stationary on the shafts? I feel like this will fix our Problem.

All the gears should be secured to their shafts. The only sliding components are the dog clutches.

Regards Tyrone.

thanks Tyrone. after we fix the housing and get the new parts ill let you know how it does. thanks again

I run a 52" up north of Bham. Sounds like you have figured out the problem, but I'll also add that it takes a deft touch to get in the habit of properly coming out of rapid into feed to keep from slamming gears on a W-B. If you go even just slightly over the neutral position, the gearbox will bang pretty hard. Took me a couple of weeks to learn to use rapid on this one.

we have had that happen more than a few times too. they are good cutting machines when they are working right.

Yeah, once I got it all figured out, it's a really nice old machine. Sadly, some dumbass removed the feed stops to put the DRO on it. You have to babysit it all the way through the cut, as there is no longer and auto kick out on the feed in any direction.