Cinci no. 2 vertical mill power feed box issue

I’m reactivating a Cinci no. 2 vertical mill, everything works fine but the power head downfeed, The small handwheel for fine feed, when shifted into either up or down, spins very fast, head stays put. Big coarse feed ship’s wheel doesn’t budge. Eccentric lever inside ship’s wheel swings free to one side only and doesn’t do any function. Took box off and opened it, looks pristine inside. But I can’t figure out where the 3/8-inch ball bearing and spring shown in 1931 service manual go, my feed box lacks those. Anyone have diagrams or photos of the ship’s wheel and eccentric? The lever “eccentric” is intended to engage or disengage the disk clutch controlling the power downfeed. We got the heavy, counterweighted head moving with a bottle jack after we removed the power feed box.

Here are 18 photos incl 2 pages fm service manual, maybe 1/3 of the pix apply directly to this assembly. The disk clutch portion of it is what needs fixed, and I think the exact problem is the eccentric lever which is supposed to slide two concentric shafts about 1/2” with respect to each other.

John Morris has shared 18 photos with you! | Flickr

The ball and spring are just a ball dent in the handle, so seems all parts there. Now it is pretty clear that hidden corrosion between close-tolerance parts, including the concentric tubes, is the culprit. So we’re going thru our well-practiced routine of penetrants, vibration from nonferrous hammers, and a little heat.

Here’s a picture of the part that’s not working right, the clutch operating mechanism. It has the toggle handle on top, a spring inside two concentric tubes, and two facing gears at the bottom. This thing engages and disengages those gears when the toggle handle is moved. I think. Since it doesn’t work I need to disassemble it. Does anyone know how to disassemble it so it can be fixed and reassembled?

I’ll have to ask John Oder, he usually finds these posts and replies but maybe he’s on vacation.

Mr. Google found this more detailed manual with the exploded views that might help a little but it is for a later model (OM) with a different power feed worm box.

http://mimsriggers.com/assets/cincinnati nos 2 3 4 dial type mills parts list cat.pdf

Progress:

Flickr: Page Not Found

I’m not done yet because the clutch works but is still sticky, hangs up often. So I’ll be disassembling further to polish rough areas. There’s a taper pin i’ll remove to get access.

All working now but I’m going to increase the spring pressure in the control lever’s ball detent. It releases too easily. But my biggest problem for a couple of days was improper installation of the control lever. When I started working on it, the control lever’s pivot screw passed thru the hole in a small square tab at the outer end of the collar (p/n 1804?). Tab not shown in parts illus. Pp. 72 of the 1938 manual on VM. Nor is the taper pin holding the eccentric onto the column. But you can see it in this pic, with the mistaken placement of the screw thru it. This mistaken arrangement prevents correct axial motion of the telescoping tubes. When on a hunch I installed the lever bracket when rotated 180 degrees so the pivot screw didn’t pass thru the tab’s hole, the clutch assembly engaged and disengaged properly for the first time since I’ve owned the mill. Tab and incorrect screw placement are in front of the bottom of the WD-40 can. The 3/8-inch hole in the tab is threaded, so I’m wondering what it held originally?

Video showing more details. Flickr: Page Not Found

Brief video showing how we got the head unstuck. Flickr: Page Not Found

In refererence to emailed question.....

K&T had major knee and column redesign mid thirties - interesting bit from RUSSIA

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...ng-machine-4-russia-357827/?highlight=sponson

Maybe Cinc did some of that - making only slightly later manuals inapplicable

11 min, video showing fixed mill and cutting demo. Don’t rely on the dialogue for anything.

Cincinnati Milling Machine Test - YouTube