Thread: lathe wont select low gear? ideas?

Im not familiar with that typeof machine at all so I am just guessing really.
The Gear type noise could just be gear noise,or do you mean a grinding or chattering type noise (the gears may not be meshing properly).
Does The lathe use a Lever to change from High to Low.
If so can you see the Gears as you engage the Low gear.
Check if you can see them ,and see how far they engage.
I am guessing again but if they are engaged buy a Lever they should be on a type of Cam shaft.
Hopefully on this shaft there will be some type of adjustment so that when you rotate the cam shaft you can get correct engagement of your gears.
Are you moving or rocking the lathe chuck back and forward when you try to engage low gear,they may just need to be aligned to engage.

After having a brief look at an exploded view of the Headstock disregard everything I mentioned about the Cam set up.
It appears that Low/High gear are on the same shaft and your Lever just slides them from one side to the other to engage or dis engage.
You may still need to adjust for correct Lateral movement and to also Rotate spindle slightly while engageing from one to the other.

On my 9x20 I need to turn the headstock spindle slightly back and forth to engage High or Low gear via a knob on the front, you then feel a definite click when it meshes.

Don't know whether you are a member of the Yahoo 7x12MiniLathe group, but a question there would get you some expert opinions.

Problem solved the low gears in the headstock are worn on one side of the gears.

Did you purchase this Lathe new late last month.
If so is the Seller going to repair it for you.
I am assumeing that its not opperator error.
Buy the look of the Gears they appear to be Nylon or similar,if this is a common problem you may be able to source Steel or Aluminium Gears.

If this is the lathe you did purchase only last month, then it is going to be an expensive learning curve for you. The only way that the plastic gears could have worn like that, is that they were never placed into gear correctly, so the seller, is definately going to say this is "operator error" and all costs are yours.

But, on a brighter note, these plastic gears are readily available, the price is a bit steep for what they are and the quality of them is doubtfull as well. They are only cast plastic and some have horrible air bubbles in them, you wont know if what you have bought are crook, until you start to use them and they dissintergrate.

The other solution is to replace the plastic ones with alloy gears, but, and here's the kicker, these alloy gears tend to be rather noisy buggers, no oil bath to quieten them down.

Scary Forbes do sell these plastic gears, as these same gears are fitted into the mini mills as well, so they got plenty of stock on hand. Think they were asking about 20 bucks each for them, but you are about to find out what makes the lathe work, oh, the joys of owning machinery.

Have you joined the Yahoo groups yet, which are dedicated to these little lathes, lots of information available over on those sites.

regards radish

Yep this is the lathe i just recently purchased,only ever had the need to use low gear until it started making a weird noise,so if its allways been in low dont know why it decided to crumble? Unless the selector fork was out of alignment from the factory?..

Yeah i wont be out of pocket or have any dramas with getting it fixed as my brother works for the company i bought it through.
Im just going to ask them to order 2 sets of gears in for me so il have a spare set if this ever happens again.
I looked on the little machine shop site & the plastic gears are only like $4.00(US) each so i cant imagine it being an expensive repair.

They also had the steel or alloy or whatever they are gears on there but were around $25(US)ea but had no stock.

But il enquire about the metal gears also.
So im getting my brother to take it in monday morning & hopefully it gets done within a few days providing they can get the parts.

Will let yous know how i go.

Faroogoo
A short time back I had to repair a mates little lathe gears that look just like yours,I found that when we put it back together and engaged high and low range the indents in the engagement lever did not line the gears up fully and in low range it was only driving on half the width of the gear. We turned up some new spacer bushes to fit on the main shaft to ensure that the full gear face was in contact.Just check yours out and see if it is a similar problem.
Bob

Update-

I've pinpointed the reason its not engaging low gear correctly.

Its because of excess material left in the casting of the headstock,so you think the lever is as far as it will go but its realy just hard up against the extra casting left there & only engaging half of the gear.

So when it goes in for repair Monday morning il let them know it has to be ground down so the gear selector lever gets its full range of motion back otherwise its just going to chew through another set of gears in another 3-4weeks.

How did you go with the mini-lathe problem on monday?
I am thinking of getting one.Do they have a spares price list and plenty of spares?

Hey Aussie,

Yeah dropped it off monday arvo,they had a look at it & said no problems he'l sort it out for me.He's going to strip the headstock down die grind out the excess casting then rebuild it.Should be ready Thursday or Friday.

Spares arent a problem,im in Adelaide so its takes a day or two for the parts to get here from Melbourne but apparently theres no shortage.

Just get whoever you buy it from to check it over (inc the casting) before you take delivery to save the hassle of having to take it back later if it is like mine.

I'l ask about a parts price list too.

update update NEEDED
Are we there yet? How did you go with the lathe gears?

Hey Aussie,

Nah not fixed yet mate,the guys ground out the excess casting in the headstock so the gear selector lever has full range of motion.

They said it will be about a week or two more wait for the part to come in,so i've been using it since then but it only has high gear,its not much difference seeing as im still using roughly the same rpm on the jobs im doing.

Theres no hassles with getting it fixed its just the wait thats a pain in the ass,but you get that with everything i guess.

Im still going to ask about a spares list when i go in there next also.