SB 9A feed lever won't engage?

Hi all!

Dug my old SB9 out to begin it's restoration and ran into an odd problem.
Now for what it's worth I've had this machine 25 years and can operate it with my eyes closed and two lathe dogs behind my back

I have the half-nut lever disengaged and the carriage is free to travel. The feed lever is in neutral but I can't seem to get it into either feed positions. The lever moves but it seems just short of engaging the detents (pin holes, actually) for longitude or cross feed.
This machine is in good condition to begin with and I recall the lever working fine when I put it in storage. I have manually rotated the lead screw a full turn (or more) while manipulating the lever, but no luck.
Any suggestions short of disassembling the apron? I mean - I plan to disassemble it anyway but I'm curious what could be the cause..

thanks!

Love answering my own post
If I lift the half-nut lever a teensy bit from the disengaged position the feed lever works right.
Had to dust off a few cobwebs - after a bit of thinking I remembered this annoyance from years ago! Something I'll be sure to remedy when I get in and clean everything up...

thanks all - lol!

I think your nuts are opening too wide.

The interlock rod (the rod that prevents you from closing the half nuts and engaging the power feed at the same time) fits into a small notch relieved section of the half nut lever. If the lever is moved to engage the half nuts, the rod is pushed out of the notch as the lever is rotated, and once this happens, the rod interferes with the engagement of the power feed.

When the half nuts are fully disengaged, the rod is supposed to be in the center of the notched relief.

However, if you over-travel the half nut knob in the disengaged direction, you can actually push the rod a little out of the notch on the OTHER side of the notch. That is what it sounds like is happening with your apron. And lifting up on the half nut lever a tiny bit undoes the overtravel.

The trick is that the half nuts are supposed to hit a stop nub on the back side of the apron casting and the point at which the half nuts stop opening is supposed to correspond to the rod being centered in the notch.

So, I'm wondering if the half nuts are original to the machine? Maybe someone replaced the half nuts sometime in the past and the stop adjustment is a little off? You might have to add a little material to either the apron stop nub or the lower half nut casting. Just a little something to prevent the nuts from opening so wide?

The elegant solution would be a threaded adjustable stop... Could be as simple as a setscrew threaded into the lower half nut?