Just a little one tonight ....
The quill lock on my Beaver Mill has been annoying me for ages

It locks the quill up ok, but when you released it the quill stayed locked and I had to tap the lock with a hammer to free it.

Taken apart you can see the brass piece that acts as a cam against the quill when the lever is tightened. The other half of the cam is still inside the head. These two squeeze together to clamp the quill. The problem was that when the locking lever was released the cams stayed stuck even though nothing was binding inside.
So I found a suitable spring and cut it shorter to a suitable size to fit between the two cams to help push them apart.


Now when the lock is released the spring does it's job and I no longer need the hammer.... I really dislike hitting things, esp my machinery ....

A nice little tweak to make life a touch simpler ....