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| Proxxon PD400 |
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| wongster:
Hi Graham, I just finished taking off the compound and cross slides to clean up again. This time, I put plenty of grease on the necessary parts. The part that makes the turning of the handwheels smoother is the contact surface between the handwheel and the part of the slide that it comes in contact with. After much playing around with the tightness of the nut holding the handwheel, the compound and the cross slide can move much easily than before. I also took out the leadscrew to give it a good amount of the way oil I bought from A2ZCNC while trying to remove the carriage. It just got jammed at the end of the way. Couldn't figure out what's blocking its exit. I saw that there is a plate beneath the carriage that is held by 2 capscrews. This, I think, act as the carriage lock. The locking is done using the 3rd capscrew that is accessible from the top of the carriage. The other 2 can't be accessed unless I turn the lathe upside down; something I'm not willing to attempt given its weight. The 2 capscrews may be a little tight to allow free movement. I'm just suspecting as I'm an absolute newbie. As the carriage handwheel and the leadscrew handwheel are both stiff to turn, I find it difficult to start on any project. Found a work around though; use both the handwheels at the same time. This works nicely and the movement along the ways is now smoother. I'll be doing this for the time being till I've someone willing to come by to help me lift up the lathe from the chip tray and flip it around. I've not done anything further on the radius attachment. I think a longer piece of rod would be required to give enough clearance from the chuck. I've some time tomorrow. Will do some test and probably play with the radius attachment somemore. Regards, Wong |
| grayone:
--- Quote from: David Jupp on January 01, 2012, 05:51:53 AM ---On higher cost machines, the slides would typically be scraped - this is just too costly in the production of budget machines. --- End quote --- Hi David Just a comment from a point of view of expectations these are not budget machines and in the UK cost around £2,000 compared to a similar Asian 7 x 14 ones of round £500. I suspect that a certain amount of bedding in may be required once the ways are cleaned and the gibs adjusted. Wong you are quite correct the plate under the bed acts as a gib for the long travel so may need to be tweeked a bit. Please keep in touch with how you are getting along as in the UK at least there are not many owners of this machine that I can find on the web. Regards Graham |
| wongster:
Sure do, Graham, and thank you for clarifying that I didn't pay more than 4 times the price to get a lathe that is still within the budget range. If it is, I would rather just buy the SIEG and save the rest for other stuff. Regards, Wong |
| andyf:
Hi Wong, You mentioned that the leadscrew handwheel was hard to turn, though it turned easily with the half-nuts disengaged. With the half nuts disengaged, can you move the carriage easily with the handwheel on the apron? If not, I can think of two reasons: 1. Looking at the picture of the cross slide dial in the right-hand column half way down this page, http://thehobbyistmachineshop.com/shop23.html , there are three black Allen bolts going down through the carriage. Only two will be needed to hold the apron in place, so the third (one of the two on the left) is probably a carriage lock. It may have been tightened up to lock the carriage before the lathe was shipped, so check that it is not still tight. 2. The gibs on the carriage need loosening up a bit. If you can run the carriage along easily with the apron handwheel, it is possible that the half nuts are not properly aligned to the leadscrew. In that case, the leadscrew handwheel should be easier to turn when the carriage is mid-way along the bed than when it is at either end. Midway, the leadscrew can bend to accommodate the misalignment, but near the ends it can't bend so easily. Put the carriage mid-way, and watch the leadscrew for any horizontal or vertical deflection as you engage the half nuts. If the deflection is horizontal, there's sometimes a bit of wriggle room on the two Allen bolts which hold the apron in place. Move the carriage to one end or the other, loosen the bolts, apply the half nuts and then tighten the bolts up again. If the leadscrew deflects vertically, a fix may be more complicated. Andy Edit: The author in the link I gave above says "Every axis has a lock". Could it be that the cross-slide and compound were also locked up for shipping? |
| Miner:
You really should be using a proper way oil. It also helps to flush out chips etc. Grease will retain that contamination. Your slides will also work much smoother with a proper way oil. That's a fine and high quality lathe. It would be a shame to wear it out faster than nessisary. Pete |
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