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Fixing up a clausing 5914

Alex M

Plastic
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Location
Arlington, TX
Hey guys,

There is a pretty little Clausing 5914 where I work, and I kind of stumbled into fixing it up. The vari-speed belt on it broke and I had to use the lathe so I volunteered to fix it.

Any advice on how to go about it? Also, the autofeed is broken on it. We have all the parts to replace it, is it something that could be done by someone with no experience on machine maintenance?

Thanks guys!
 
Hi Alex,

There are a lot of members here, including myself, who own and have restored 5914's -- it's a great lathe.

The Vari-Speed belt is a standard 1930V400 V-belt and the timing belt is a 630H150. Your local bearing supply should have them, and Motion Industries (online) carries them. Clausing sells Browning belts, but I prefer the Gates PowerFlex belts. I paid ~ $45 each for them.

To get the new belt on, you'll have to loosen the motor mounts, and lift up the motor and bottom Vari-Speed sheave enough to fit the new belt on. Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to replace.

Also, the autofeed is broken on it.
The carriage powerfeed is taken off the leadscrew by a worm screw inside the apron. There's no clutch on the 5914's powerfeeds, so if the leadscrew is spinning, but the carriage isn't moving, there's something wrong in the apron...

Can you give us some more details/symptoms?
 
By motor mounts, do you mean the motor to the bracket or the bracket to the frame? I did the bracket and that wasnt high enough.

I will give you more details as soon as I get that belt on there.

Also, it feels like theres some air in the vari-speed system. Does it need to be bled or can I just top it off?
 
Alex, in addition to 5914 owners on this forum (I'm one of them) there is also a Yahoo Clausing forum where you can get advice and help.

They also sell most of the "consumable" parts for the 5914 at
http://www.clausing-industrial.com/ and will also sell you a manual for your machine for around $25., it has some maintenance info in addition to user info. Parts prices aren't too bad, at least on the small stuff.

Paul T.
 
I just ran out to the shop to double-check, and you have to lift the clutch/brake assembly off it's cradle, slip the timing belt off the lower sheave, slip the new Vari-Speed belt around the upper Vari-speed sheave, and then lift up the motor enough to get the V-belt around the lower Vari-Speed sheave.

Lifting the clutch/brake out if it's cradle isn't as big a deal as it sounds: there are four cap screws, two each on the front and rear bearing retainers. Unscrew those, and remove the cast iron bearing retainers, and you can lift the front of the clutch/brake up enough to slip the timing belt off, and get the new V-belt in there.

What type of oil do you guys recommend?
I use Mobil DTE 24 Hydraulic Oil. A lot of the Tractor Supply Companies carry it in stock, or you can order it online for $14/gallon at Enco.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=505-1206&PMPXNO=945275&PARTPG=INLMK32
 
Thanks Lazlo!

I just finished installing the belt. Your description was dead-nuts on. I had been dragging my feet for the last two days on this thing! If I had known it was gonna be this easy....

Alright, I suppose the next step will be to bleed the vari-speed housing and cylinders. Im thinking im just going to disconnect them and clean them out. But I havent yet thought about what im going to do to bleed them properly. Any suggestions?

Thanks PaulT. I'll look into it.
 
There's a bleed screw on the upper cylinder by the speed control. Run it through its range a few times (with motor on) then run it up to high and crack the screw to bleed air. Make sure fill cup has enough oil in it first, or you'll be adding air, not taking it out.

I wouldn't open up the hydraulic lines unless you suspect a problem. While you were changing the belt, you checked on the infamous delrin pulley sleeve, right? (Between the halves of the cone pulley)
 
Alex, one issue with my lathe is that it is bypassing fluid internal to the hydraulic positioner.

IOW, there are no external fluid leaks, but it won't hold a steady speed.

I have the seals from Clausing to fix it, just other considerations have got me hemmed in from making the repairs at present.

However, my experience with bleeding the system was different than CCCs...I took it all the way down to lowest speed where the motor sheave was at its widest position (pistons collapsed into the block), then held the two control levers against the spring-stop for several seconds. There should not be a lot of difficulty in bleeding since the filler pot is at the highest point.
 
Hi There,

I know that a lot of people use the 1930V400 belt
on their 5900 lathes but when I was rebuilding my
lower pulley, I measured the included angle of the
VS sheave and it is 22 Degrees. I would think the
1922V403 would be the correct VS belt.

Also, the instructions for bleeding the hydraulics
on the 5900 series lathes have changed. Clausing
is FAXing copies to anyone that cares to get the
new procedure. It is different than the one in
the manual.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
 
I know that a lot of people use the 1930V400 belt on their 5900 lathes but when I was rebuilding my lower pulley, I measured the included angle of the VS sheave and it is 22 Degrees. I would think the 1922V403 would be the correct VS belt.
That's strange Webb. I just ran out to the shop to grab the Clausing-branded V-belt that I replaced, and it still has the Clausing part number on it (051-038), and it's impressed with the stamp "1930V400".

Also, the instructions for bleeding the hydraulics
The bleeding instructions vary according to what hydraulic Master and Slave cylinder you have. On the old round Master and Slave cylinder systems, you need to run the lathe at the highest speed, loosen the bleeder screws until they leak hydraulic fluid, tighten the screws, then turn the speed dial to low, stop and release. Repeat until all the air is bled.

On the newer square Master cylinders you hold the speed control dial at the low end stop for several seconds to bleed the system (you'll feel spring pressure but hold it to the stop). Do this several times after running it up and down.
 
Hi There,

That's strange Webb. I just ran out to the shop to grab the Clausing-branded V-belt that I replaced, and it still has the Clausing part number on it (051-038), and it's impressed with the stamp "1930V400".
I know it is strange. Why would Clausing
use a 30 degree belt on a 22 degree sheave? Isn't
that why there is a 1922V series of belts? Anyway,
I'll double check the sheave angle again.

On the newer square Master cylinders you hold the speed control dial at the low end stop for several seconds to bleed the system (you'll feel spring pressure but hold it to the stop). Do this several times after running it up and down.
I know that is the instructions in the manual but
when I was having some trouble with my system
holding speed, I called the Clausing Service
Center and talked to a Tech over there. He said
the bleeding instruction have changed and offered
to FAX them over. I didn't have access to a FAX
machine so he was nice enough to type them out
and send them as a MS Word file to me. I used
them and it cured my trouble. BTW I have the
later style rectangular master and slave cylinder.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
 
I didn't have access to a FAX machine so he was nice enough to type them out and send them as a MS Word file to me. I used them and it cured my trouble.
I retrofitted my round Master/Slave cylinder lathe with a Square Master/Slave cylinder, and using the self-bleeding detent (the instructions I posted above) worked great.

What was different about the procedure they sent you by MS Word?

There's a MS Word document on the Clausing Yahoo group (that I think you uploaded?), but all it says is to unscrew the hydraulic hose at the slave cylinder while the machine is running, run the speed up to high, and then screw the hose back in. That's a somewhat dangerous way to bleed the system, but it seems like it should work if, for some reason, the bleeding instructions in the manual didn't work for you...
 
Hi There,

There's a MS Word document on the Clausing Yahoo group (that I think you uploaded?)
Yup. That was me. I wasn't able to get all the
air out of my system using the procedure in the
manual and I worked on it for hours. So, I called
Clausing and I used the new procedure. Actually,
I slightly modified the procedure to make it easier
for one person (me) to accomplish.

At first, I was leery of it too but if you are careful
and take your time, it isn't all that bad.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
 
Thanks for all the help guys.

Everything went pretty smoothly.

Do you guys have any recommendation as to how to align the motor? I think the alignment might be off slightly because the sheaves get pretty hot. I havent used the lathe since I started wondering about the alignment.

Also, the autofeed doesnt work because there is something wrong in the gearbox, not the apron. Ill dive into it and hopefully take some pictures.
 
Thanks for the info, Matt, Webb, and lazlo - I learned a bit about these beasts from reading what you said.

BTW, my two Clausings have the older round cylinder. One is solid as a rock, the other is a little temperamental.

Alex - don't know what to tell you about the motor. Are there other symptoms - belt wear or rub marks?

As far as the autofeed, it sound like the leadscrew isn't turning, right? This sounds dumb, but check the simple stuff first - slide gear, A/B/C selector knob, quick change gears, and lead screw direction lever. All 4 have to be engaged to get the lead screw to turn.
 
Hi There,

I think the alignment might be off slightly because the sheaves get pretty hot.
The VS sheaves do get hot. That is why they have
aluminum cooling fans on them.

Also, the autofeed doesnt work because there is something wrong in the gearbox, not the apron.
Check the shear pin on the lead screw. it is lo-
cated at the junction where the lead crew attaches
to the gear box.

I'll double check the sheave angle again.
I re-checked and it is 22 degrees.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
 
Just how hot does the sheaves get? I just took the hub off of a 6903 driven sheave that was cracked through the keyway, threaded the sheave plate and screwed on a new steel hub. I'm hoping the loctite I'm using isn't going to degrade on me.

Clutch
 
Hi There,

Just how hot does the sheaves get?
I can't really say. I don't have a way to measure
the temp. but it is hot to the touch. I don't think
it gets anywhere near 300 degrees so I think your
Loctite will be fine.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb
 
Thats good to hear.

The sheave on this machine did get real hot. But today I went out there with a infrared thermometer to measure it, and after running it for a couple of minutes it was still cool to the touch, so I figure im good.

I will go check out that shear pin right now, Webb.

EDIT:

I forgot to mention, the The lowest VS setting I can go to is 400. I looked at the piston howsing on the VS motor speed motor assembly and the pistons are fully retracted. The only thing I can think of of the top of my head is that the nut at the end of the assembly is too far in. Theres no nylock, so im using two nuts.
 
Alright.

There is a cotter pin in place of the shear pin. The cotter pin is in one piece. However, the lead-screw can be moved by hand.

Also, I cant get the tumbler to engage any of the gears when selecting auto-feed speeds.
 








 
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