Apron disassembly on 10EE w/ leadsrew reverse

I finally got around to disassembling the apron on my lathe. It was necessary to do this because of the forward/reverse lever being non-functional. The lever moves but it does not engage the horizontal rod that runs throught the apron down to the tailstock end of the lathe. I found that all that was wrong was a missing key deep within the apron. If anyone is interested in a picture of this mechanism disassembled let me know. I have yet to determine if the key has any special qualities or if I can just go get one at my local hardware store. I have a manual but the diagram for these parts is not clear. If anyone knows about this key I would appreciate hearing from them.

That control rod passes thru a gear, the key
fits inside the gear and rides in the control rod slot. The key sits in the groove of that gear and has tangs on both ends to keep it located. You could make one out of a piece of keystock yourself.

Thanks Daryl for your reply. I wondered if there wasn't more to that key than just a straight piece of stock. I suppose I could silver solder some short pieces of key stock to a longer piece to create the tags for holding it in place as you had mentioned.

I apologize for not giving this info last post, but I was too lazy to walk out to the shop. Get a piece of .125 1/8" width key stock, about 2.0" in. long. Hopefully it should be about .1875 height. Cut out a step in the middle of the key, 1.625in. long x .062 deep. You're done! You should now have a key 2in. long with two tangs at each end .1875 long x .1875 height. The middle of the key between the tangs is .125 height.
This will now nest into the gear slot in your reverse/leadscrew control rod box.
Hope this helps. Daryl

I was able to reassemble and test the machine with the control levers working the way they are supposed to. I made my own key from a long piece I bought at an auto store. All went well except for the discovery that the gear that turns the threading dial has a flat spot worn into the teath. This is the gear that meshes with the lead screw. Anyway, it slips and binds when the flat spot comes around and trys to mesh with the lead screw. It will require repair / replacement. I would appreciate any suggestion about where I might get this gear. I think it is made of brass. It is part number EE3548. Thanks again Daryl for letting me benifit from your experience.

Well, the first thing would be to fax Monarch
with that part# and see if you need to mortage the house to pay for it. You never know, might be reasonable, might be about the same as the crown jewels of a small European country. Next, check with Boston Gear with the dimensions, pitch etc. Maybe they can fix you up.

After alittle closer examination, that gear is alot more complicated than I thought. I assume it is the piggyback gear that has the flat on it? The smaller steel gear under it has a long shoulder that is pressed into and setscrewed to that brass gear. If you were to find a proper gear, there would be some
extra machine work to fit it to the steel gear. But no hill for a climber.
To remove it, find the taper pin in the cast
assy. It goes thru and secures the button
headed shaft that the piggyback gear spins on. With the pin out, you can drift out the shaft, which will allow you to remove the gears and the long shafted drive gear. All of the gears and the assy body are all bronze bushed. And probably worn out.
Folks, can you believe all this for the ##@$%
thread dial!!! EE's you gotta love em'

I did check with Monarch on both the key and the gear. They faxed me back quotes. The key was $45.00. The gear came back with a different part number indicating I would have to get an assembly. The price was $950.00. I did not call back to get a better explanation of what the assembly would be. The prices do make me wonder what planet these parts come from. I think if it was a steel gear I would just braze up the worn teeth and hand file them back into shape. What the heck, they don't have any significant load on them. But I don't think that brazing will work on a brass gear. I would just end up melting the whole thing. I also thought about looking at a stock gear supply like Boston. Really it is a form of a worm gear and the lead screw is the steel worm. Getting one from Boston I think would be quite a long shot but I am going to check it out. I suppose if all else fails I could machine a new gear from scratch.

Well, don't forget that the last of the 10EE's sold for $90k back in the early 1990's, when Monarch discontinued the line.