metalmagpie
Titanium
- Joined
- May 22, 2006
- Location
- Seattle
I own an M5 setup and just received a V390 machine. I got the V390 from finegrain on this forum. He had problems sufficiently tightening the chuck, correctly chucking short drills, and reproducing point splits time after time.
I found that the drill chuck was indeed stiff even after being disassembled and blown out. However, I could see that there was still grinding crud left behind inside the chuck after blowing it out. So I unscrewed the chuck until it came apart into 2 assemblies. Without doing any further disassembly I put them into an ultrasonic cleaner in a dilute (maybe 1 to 15) bath of general purpose cleaner, in particular this stuff: HydroForce(R) Industrial Strength Degreaser, 1 Gal - 14416
I ran the UC on hi power for 30 minutes. I rinsed each assembly in 160 degree water and then blew it out with compressed air. Then I used a light lubricating oil on the inside taper and CRC 3-36 everywhere else. That chuck threaded in and out a whole lot easier and smoother than before.
Moral no. 1: V390 chucks need to be thoroughly cleaned and oiled periodically. I had to return my buddy's ultrasonic cleaner before I had the chance to break down an M series chuck and try the same process on it. If it works as well on a chuck from an M3-4-5 as it did on the V390, this would be a real good piece of information for Darex owners.
I was able to find a procedure for aligning drills too short to be grasped at the back end. This procedure works much better with a cleaned, oiled chuck. Put the drill into the chuck and tighten it almost all the way, adjusting the fingers as you go (this just seems to be what you have to do on the V390). When it's just not quite tight and the drill can move in the chuck but with resistance, pull the chuck out the front an inch or two. Push the paddle to open the spring steel pawls, line up the milled mark on the chuck and slowly insert the chuck into the alignment port, so the drill bottoms out and then stays against the stop. If you like, use a straight piece of wire or a 3mm punch to hold the drill solidly against the stop. After the chuck is fully seated, release the pawls, and fiddle with the paddle until the pawls themselves rotate the drill into the correct orientation. Then tighten as normal.
There's a piece in the V390 manual about aligning short drills. I tried their way but liked mine better.
Moral 2: don't give up on aligning short drills correctly
I found the point splitter to be really easy to use but the first time I tried it the split lines were ground in too far. Darex says when this happens, regrind the tip and then adjust the point splitter and resplit. However, after point splitting too far, I just put the chuck back into the sharpening port and ground away some more of the end just until the split point lines moved into the correct alignment. If I know the point splitter usually splits too deep, I can go to the point splitter and then the sharpener instead of the other way round. It's easy to adjust the split lines with the sharpener.
I'm abashed to say that I didn't realize the machine has a point split depth adjustment. I'll try that next. Unfamiliar machine, don't ya know.
Moral 3: there's more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to point splitting on the V390
One comparative note: while you can move the point split lines towards or away from the chisel line with the 390, you can not adjust the machine sideways to make the point splits more perfectly touch side to side. This is trivial on the M5. I like the point splitter on the M5. I realize that the V390 is supposed to be a simple machine and simplicity has its virtues. In reality I got an excellent point split grind out of the V390.
The other comparative note I see is that I believe the M series will sharpen a drill differently than will the V390. The M5 chuck pronouncedly moves in two different directions as the chuck is rotated, whereas the V390's chuck only moves in and out. Is one better than the other? I can't say.
I have long thought that a Darex M5's biggest limitation was the fact that the chucks slowly get stiffer and stiffer. I'm hopeful that an ultrasonic bath can make as much of an improvement on the M5 chucks as it does on the V390's chuck.
metalmagpie
I found that the drill chuck was indeed stiff even after being disassembled and blown out. However, I could see that there was still grinding crud left behind inside the chuck after blowing it out. So I unscrewed the chuck until it came apart into 2 assemblies. Without doing any further disassembly I put them into an ultrasonic cleaner in a dilute (maybe 1 to 15) bath of general purpose cleaner, in particular this stuff: HydroForce(R) Industrial Strength Degreaser, 1 Gal - 14416
I ran the UC on hi power for 30 minutes. I rinsed each assembly in 160 degree water and then blew it out with compressed air. Then I used a light lubricating oil on the inside taper and CRC 3-36 everywhere else. That chuck threaded in and out a whole lot easier and smoother than before.
Moral no. 1: V390 chucks need to be thoroughly cleaned and oiled periodically. I had to return my buddy's ultrasonic cleaner before I had the chance to break down an M series chuck and try the same process on it. If it works as well on a chuck from an M3-4-5 as it did on the V390, this would be a real good piece of information for Darex owners.
I was able to find a procedure for aligning drills too short to be grasped at the back end. This procedure works much better with a cleaned, oiled chuck. Put the drill into the chuck and tighten it almost all the way, adjusting the fingers as you go (this just seems to be what you have to do on the V390). When it's just not quite tight and the drill can move in the chuck but with resistance, pull the chuck out the front an inch or two. Push the paddle to open the spring steel pawls, line up the milled mark on the chuck and slowly insert the chuck into the alignment port, so the drill bottoms out and then stays against the stop. If you like, use a straight piece of wire or a 3mm punch to hold the drill solidly against the stop. After the chuck is fully seated, release the pawls, and fiddle with the paddle until the pawls themselves rotate the drill into the correct orientation. Then tighten as normal.
There's a piece in the V390 manual about aligning short drills. I tried their way but liked mine better.
Moral 2: don't give up on aligning short drills correctly
I found the point splitter to be really easy to use but the first time I tried it the split lines were ground in too far. Darex says when this happens, regrind the tip and then adjust the point splitter and resplit. However, after point splitting too far, I just put the chuck back into the sharpening port and ground away some more of the end just until the split point lines moved into the correct alignment. If I know the point splitter usually splits too deep, I can go to the point splitter and then the sharpener instead of the other way round. It's easy to adjust the split lines with the sharpener.
I'm abashed to say that I didn't realize the machine has a point split depth adjustment. I'll try that next. Unfamiliar machine, don't ya know.
Moral 3: there's more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to point splitting on the V390
One comparative note: while you can move the point split lines towards or away from the chisel line with the 390, you can not adjust the machine sideways to make the point splits more perfectly touch side to side. This is trivial on the M5. I like the point splitter on the M5. I realize that the V390 is supposed to be a simple machine and simplicity has its virtues. In reality I got an excellent point split grind out of the V390.
The other comparative note I see is that I believe the M series will sharpen a drill differently than will the V390. The M5 chuck pronouncedly moves in two different directions as the chuck is rotated, whereas the V390's chuck only moves in and out. Is one better than the other? I can't say.
I have long thought that a Darex M5's biggest limitation was the fact that the chucks slowly get stiffer and stiffer. I'm hopeful that an ultrasonic bath can make as much of an improvement on the M5 chucks as it does on the V390's chuck.
metalmagpie
