wells Index 747 quill down feed problem

Ray Behner

Diamond

Joined

Mar 27, 2009

Location

Brunswick Oh USA

• Jul 9, 2020

• #1

Selector moves so hard due to old grease, thought I'd explore the situation. Oops! Pulled the rod too far out and can't get'er back in. Can I go through the back or does she have to come apart? There's a half buggy spring that keeps tension on the bar and I'm afraid I'll loose it down the abyss. Any help out there?

 

Ray Behner

Diamond

Joined

Mar 27, 2009

Location

Brunswick Oh USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #2

Ray Behner said:

Selector moves so hard due to old grease, thought I'd explore the situation. Oops! Pulled the rod too far out and can't get'er back in. Can I go through the back or does she have to come apart? There's a half buggy spring that keeps tension on the bar and I'm afraid I'll loose it down the abyss. Any help out there?

Click to expand...

never mind figgered it out.

 

S

snowman

Diamond

Joined

Jul 31, 2004

Location

Southeast Michigan

• Jul 10, 2020

• #3

lol...if it works, don't kick the hornets nest.

get all that hardened grease out of there and you'll find that the clutch is really hard to adjust. Mine worked before, but not now...but it's clean! Before there was just enough force to make it hard to disengage the clutch. Now that it's clean, there's just enough wear that it kicks it out without issue.

 

eKretz

Diamond; Mod Squad

Joined

Mar 27, 2005

Location

Northwest Indiana, USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #4

So what did you end up doing? Just in case... And fellow Wells guys: how about the quill return spring? I can't seem to get mine on the 847 adjusted to just neutralize the weight of the quill... It's either too light and drops the quill or one more turn of preload and it self retracts. Driving me nuts. I like it to stay where I put it without having to put the clamp on.

 

S

snowman

Diamond

Joined

Jul 31, 2004

Location

Southeast Michigan

• Jul 10, 2020

• #5

Is it possible to be that well adjusted? I always thought it was a balance between weight of tool, a tiny bit of interference of the clamp, and the spring.

 

eKretz

Diamond; Mod Squad

Joined

Mar 27, 2005

Location

Northwest Indiana, USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #6

Well it is on a Bridgeport... Not sure on the Wells... Hence the query.

 

Ray Behner

Diamond

Joined

Mar 27, 2009

Location

Brunswick Oh USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #7

I've done nothing to the quill return. Seems OK the way she is. Not the best solution, but I used a tad bit of scotch tape and wrapped it around the shaft and spring. Slid in fine and I'm sure the tape will disappear. Works great now except the top plunger on the kick out is worn mighty bad. Gonna tig it up and hope it locks in a bit better.

 

Ray Behner

Diamond

Joined

Mar 27, 2009

Location

Brunswick Oh USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #8

I tigged that piece up and it works like it should. Hopefully you have a parts manual. Go to section F-F, 100-002-959. The bottom corner (left in the pic) was worn to a frazzle. An easy (low amp) spot of weld and it engages perfectly. It actually "snaps" in gear. Take a look at yours.

 

eKretz

Diamond; Mod Squad

Joined

Mar 27, 2005

Location

Northwest Indiana, USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #9

Mine is in pretty good shape still, the former owners must not have used the power feed much. It still has a nice snap when engaging and disengaging.

 

G

GregSY

Diamond

Joined

Jan 1, 2005

Location

Houston

• Jul 10, 2020

• #10

My Wells 847 doesn't have quill return spring. Or, if it does, it doesn't work. The quill just stays wherever you leave it, neither gaining nor losing altitude.

 

eKretz

Diamond; Mod Squad

Joined

Mar 27, 2005

Location

Northwest Indiana, USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #11

Then yes it sure does Greg... Without the spring the quill would fall right out the bottom unless you held it with the handle. Ideally, the spring should do just as you describe. After repeated attempts to get mine set I was beginning to suspect that the coiled spring was sticking at some point in the coil. Now I suspect so even more strongly.

 

G

GregSY

Diamond

Joined

Jan 1, 2005

Location

Houston

• Jul 10, 2020

• #12

I always assumed it stayed in place thanks to its finely fitted components, so perfect they allow intentional movement but tolerate no undue influences.

 

eKretz

Diamond; Mod Squad

Joined

Mar 27, 2005

Location

Northwest Indiana, USA

• Jul 10, 2020

• #13

Haha... No. My spindle has a few tenths clearance to the housing and it slides freely. That sucker is heavy... Definitely needs a spring. I think maybe the dried up nasty brown grease in my machine's coiled spring is preventing it from coiling and uncoiling smoothly... same stuff Ray described earlier. I may remove it and soak it in solvent then oil and see if that helps. I would just disassemble and clean it but uncoiling that spring would not be an easy task.

 

B

Brett W

Cast Iron

Joined

Jan 10, 2014

Location

Huntsville AL

• Jul 13, 2020

• #14

How did you solve this? My 745 is not engaging. I pulled the side cover off and cleaned out the grease and pulled the "actuator" rod out and now it won't engage the drive. No matter how I rotate the "spacer feed driveshaft" nothing. Also it seems I'm missing the bowed springs that go under the hooked bar on the back of that driveshaft. Any idea where that piece could go?

 

Ray Behner

Diamond

Joined

Mar 27, 2009

Location

Brunswick Oh USA

• Jul 13, 2020

• #15

Brett,
Either that spring wasn't there, or it's still hiding somewhere. Once installed, it can't get loose as far as I can tell. It fits in the relieved area of the bar. Not the hooked gizmo. I think it's mostly for a bit of drag on the rod. It was a bear getting it back into the gear set. I just kept turning it to and fro until it went in.
Do you have or can you get your hands on the manual? I did have the back bearing plate off, but couldn't find anything that would help. EXCEPT, I had the head at "full nod in" and poured a ½.qt. of motor oil in there. Sure it came out through every hole it could find, but damn did it smooth things out. I quickly put the bearing plate back on and ran the mill in all power down speeds. Worst part of the job was tramming her back in.
Oh yeah, there are two ¼-20 tapped holes in the brg. plate to push it loose. I cleaned them out with a bottom tap first.

 

Ray Behner

Diamond

Joined

Mar 27, 2009

Location

Brunswick Oh USA

• Jul 13, 2020

• #16

Hey, I lied. That "buggy spring" DOES go on loose arm toward the outside of the machine. Mine was installed wrong from the factory, or it was apart before I got it. This is in section "DD" of the head & quill assy.

 

B

Brett W

Cast Iron

Joined

Jan 10, 2014

Location

Huntsville AL

• Jul 14, 2020

• #17

Yes, I have the manual. Thats how I noticed that spring that wasn't in my head when I pulled the "driveshaft out".

Sounds like I need to nod the head over and pull that cover off the back to see if I can get everything lined back up properly. Damn, I just straightened it back up Sunday. LOL