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Toolmaster 1D X axis power feed removal

rgsheehan

Plastic
Joined
Jun 18, 2020
Hi all,

I am having trouble removing the X-axis power feed from my Cincinnati Toolmaster 1D. I need to remove some of the bigger chunks (head, ram/turret, table and saddle) before moving the column/knee into the shop behind the house, also allowing cleanup of ways, etc. Following the manual, I have removed the left handwheel, key, and snap ring, top cover plate, and the four cap screws. I think I have scribed along the thick paint covered seams where it should come apart from the apron. But it won't. I did a little tap tap tapping with a rubber mallet on the gearbox housing but just no movement at all. Is there a trick? How hard can I 'bump' on that cast iron? Would a heat gun help? (I'm pretty sure I read something about a nylon spacer or something on the feed control shaft. The last thing I want to be is the one that damages this 60 year old machine that made it this far in pretty fair shape.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

R. G. Sheehan

Also, just curious, why is -every part on every diagram- in the manual suffixed with a 'B'? If they are all B, why not just leave them out and put a note at the front of the manual 'All parts are suffix B' ?
 
The housing of the powerfeed gearbox is held onto the end of the table with four capscrews (one on the backside), but it sounds like you've found those. It's aligned with two dowel pins (callout 6JH-135B in manual M-2109, which is probably the one you're using?), and those may be tight, or rusted in place. You can see the ends of those pins with the gearbox installed, so try tapping on them to break them loose. Here's a view of the backside of the mounting face, with the pinholes circled in red.

100_0614.jpg

You didn't mention draining the lubricant from the gearbox housing, but it's a good idea to do so before removal. Also, break the electrical connection to the column (and the knee if the cable clamp is still in place) or remove the pancake motor from the powerfeed gearbox before removal of the gearbox. You'll have your hands full with the gearbox, and the electrical cord is just an added frustration at that point.

The manual is a bit confusing (p. 20, step 2) where it talks about "Before replacing cover (124B)..." The cover with the cam follower should be replaced when the powerfeed assembly is being installed back on the table end, not during disassembly and removal.

If the bushing (p. 74, 227B) has worn on the end of the leadscrew shaft (p. 74, 252B), you may have difficulty in getting over the wear ridge and sharp corners of the shaft (circlip groove, etc.) to bump the powerfeed off the end of the leadscrew. Once the gearbox is off, you may need to clean up the wear and high spots with a stone, some emery cloth or similar to ease installation, especially if you replace the bronze bearing (227B).

Also, the gearbox housing (144B) was likely sealed to the apron (128B) to keep the lubricant in the housing, so you may have to overcome the adhesive effect of whatever sealant was used in order to separate the two pieces.

I wouldn't use anything like a steel hammer to bump the gearbox loose. A deadblow worked on mine, and maybe a small brass hammer could be used if absolutely needed. I don't see where heat will be helpful. There is a nylon spacer (231B) inside the reversing clutch (232B) on the leadscrew, but you'd have to apply a lot of heat to get to it.

The gearbox is heavy and awkward, so when you finally get it moving, be careful to support it, and don't bend the end of the leadscrew or control shafts during removal.

Here's what you'll see when you get the gearbox off. Note the small thrust bearings on the end of the control rod shaft. Don't lose these! The end one likes to come off when the gearbox is removed, and either fall on the floor (the bearing is three loose pieces) and roll into a dark corner, or fall off inside the gearbox. If any part of that thrust bearing is missing, find it. If you put the gearbox back on and run it with a part of that thrust bearing inside, you'll be unhappy. And internal gearbox parts are unobtanium.

100_0495.jpg 100_0496.jpg 100_0497.jpg

As to the "B" suffix thing, I'm not sure, but the M-2109 manual is a revision of the earlier Toolmaster manual. Since Cincinnati used the key numbers to order parts, perhaps they wanted to avoid confusion between the two manuals.
 
Elwood,
Thanks for the response, and the great pictures. They really help. I didn't drain the oil yet because I tried to remove the drain plug in the bottom of the gear housing ('bracket', in the manual), but even with a cheater on the allen key, and with the key visibly bending, the plug didn't move. My plan is to use an extractor to get most of the oil out, and then dump the rest if I take the front cover off. I might have to do that because while the '1,2,3' shift lever moves nicely, the 'A,B,C' lever seems to be stuck at 'C'. Maybe if I jog the motor a little the gears/dogs would loosen up, don't know yet. I did disconnect the motor wires. My scheme now to loosen the bracket is to tap a little on those locating pins, squirt some penetrating oil on the seams, and build up a plate I can bolt up in place of the top cover with some kind of verticle flat on it that I can use to bump the bracket from the top as well as the bottom. I have a length of 4x4 wood to deliver the blows.
I need to learn how to take and post pictures for display in these postings. I can see now just how valuable they are.
Thanks again,

-rgs
 
Okay, the 'bump bracket' worked and helped drift the X power feed gearbox off its' pins. The head is now off and resting in the homemade stand. Ram/turret came off nice and easy. Once the table comes off, I can finally start moving everything back into the shop and do the cleanup and re-assembly.
 

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Interesting update. I'm still re-assembling the Toolmaster. The table is back on. When re-installing the lead screw, and attaching the right side apron and handwheel, I noticed the bearing was pushed out of the retainer a little bit. I got it to slide back in but I am surprised it is not fixed in place more solidly. There is no shoulder or flange on the bearing itself to 'lock' it into that nice big bearing 'retainer', so it is not really 'retained' much. When the leadscrew wants to push the table to the right, won't it try to push that bearing out of the retainer? Or maybe since it has a X power feed, everything is controlled over on the left side? Just kinda curious.
 








 
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