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Bumble Fingers courts disaster!

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John Hill:
Bumble Fingers noticed that coolant was flowing around the compound and running over a little plate covering the cross slide screw  so I thought I would just take the plate off and see where the coolant might be leaking to.   Quick as a flash the little screw which held the plate on made a dash and fell into the carriage gearbox! :doh:

No more power feeding or thread turning untill I find and remove that little blighter!

Hmmmm, there must be a clever solution that does not require dismantling the carriage? :coffee:

bogstandard:
John,


You can almost guarantee the little blighter has found it's way to the bottom of the box. But just in case it hasn't, put the shaft into neutral (bottom RH round knob), and turn the drive shaft by hand, with one of the feeds on the apron selected. By turning it backwards and forwards, you should be able to tell if it is jamming anywhere, or even dislodge it until it finally gets to the bottom of the box.

Get your best washing up bowl, and drain out the oil. Lift up the lathe on end and shake to see if the screw will fall out of the drain hole, if that doesn't work, then using a wiggly stick with a small bend on the end (piece of wire), try to hook the screw out thru the same said drain hole, or a tiny magnet well fixed to a thin metal stick. Don't try the magnet trick from the top entry point unless you can guarantee the magnet is stuck on the stick forever, as it will try to stick to everything on it's way down, and you don't want another gear cruncher stuck down there.

If you have used a clean washing up bowl, you should be able to reuse the oil. Don't forget to wash out the bowl before using it to clean the pots in.


John

John Hill:
Lift up the lathe and shake it?  Now why didnt I think of that? :lol:  I will be calling in to the local car accessories place today looking for a magnet retrieval thing.

Maybe after draining the oil dumping in a quantity of thinner liquid that might get it out,  what do you think about kerosene as a flush liquid?

Wish me luck!

(I didnt actually see it drop in to the gearbox so you can imagine I will be sorely tested if it is really hiding in among the swarf! ::))

CrewCab:
No real bright idea's JH, a bendy magnet jobbie inserted in the drain hole sounds like the best bet

Just thought I'd pop in and wish you good luck though  :thumbup:

CC

sbwhart:

--- Quote from: John Hill on August 16, 2009, 03:33:02 PM ---

Maybe after draining the oil dumping in a quantity of thinner liquid that might get it out,  what do you think about kerosene as a flush liquid?



--- End quote ---

Great minds John I've been pondering your ? and was going to suggest that, fill it up and pull the plug to see if it flushes it out you could repeat it two or three times .

For bendy magnets you could try those magnetic notice board things, or fridge magnets.

Good luck

Stew

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