Jones and Shipman 540 Issues

Hi.

We have a 540 with full hydraulics, power feed, auto increment etc that's all fully working and we were offered another 540 by a customer who no longer used it.

Upon collecting the machine it's been partially dismantled and put back together. To start with we could not get the hydraulic feed to operate for the table and it was because the lever for the saddle dogs wasnt engaging, seems the guy lost the latch plate from the engagement lever in the valve pack.

We then had to rotate the speed and direction spindles without the heads on as they had been put on in the wrong place. After doing this the table now travels nicely left and right and the throttle valve speeds it up and slows it down.

But.. and this is the big one.. when you press the push button on the disengagement lever (that's also operated by the saddle dogs), it clicks and let's the engagement lever pop up, the table then completes a cycle to return to its stopped position, but then for some reason it then clicks the engagement lever back down and sets its self off again. If you try to hold the engagement lever up it will break your fingers! The only way to stop the table is to either turn the throttle to minimum or turn the hydraulics off.

The other oddity is the saddle ratchet mechanism that moves the saddle in and out upon the table reaching its end travel operates even when the throttle speed is set to minimum.. our other machine does not do this?

Does anyone have any ideas? Or are we going to have to take the valve block out and apart?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sounds like the valve block needs completely taking apart and cleaning.

Since someone has already been inside the machine and may have messed it up, I would suggest a different approach. Since you are in the UK you could just send the valve block to one of the firms there (Jubilee or Andmar) which specialise in repairing and refurbishing these machines and ask them to either repair it or swap it for a rebuilt one. Might not cost very much and would get it sorted quickly.

Precision Grinding Machines & Accessories by Jones & Shipman | Myford, PG Optidress

Andmar Ltd | Surface / Cylindrical Grinders & CNC Retrofit Specialists

Ok,

Thanks for your suggestions. So we stripped the valve block, clean and reassembled it. It didnt seem to make any difference and none of the internal parts were stuck etc.

After looking through the manual to check the operating pressure (in case it was too much) we noticed that under maintenance section where it mentions about removing the pump it makes a big song and dance about ensure that the hydraulic lines are fitted as shown on the diagram.

So, we got the hand light out and checked the pipes, lo and behold someone has fitted them on backwards - probably the reason why they took the valve block apart in the first place.

We now have a 540 thats working perfectly, and one that you can click the trip and after it completes its run it stops!

Have also had to turn the pump pressure down as that was running sky high too - I think whoever owned the machine before us didnt have much of a clue!