Thread: MC1100 speed change - effort required ?

I have the H&F equivalent of the MC900, I have not had any difficulty in changing the speeds up or down. While not exactly light it requires no more than slight effort to move it from low to high. Have you greased the shafts that the pulleys slide on? I have done on a couple of occasions and that could be a difference. Otherwise you may have a bent shaft on the speed change mechanism itself.

Hi Andrew,

I had an MC900 and it never required anything like that kind of effort.

In the owners manual there was a lubrication process to go through, can't remember off hand what it was but it sounds to me like you have a build up of dust/corrosion that is giving you a pai in the a##

Have you had it since new or acquire it 2nd hand?

Jamie

Andrew, have a talk to Darryl up the road, he went through this with his and he has a fix for the problem.

Mine is so tight that it stripped the thread off the rack. Had to dismantle and rotate the rack around to a new spot. Just did it again recently.

Dan.

Originally Posted by DanP

Mine is so tight that it stripped the thread off the rack. Had to dismantle and rotate the rack around to a new spot. Just did it again recently.

Dan.

And I thought I had a bit of a problem with fitting drive belts for a while. Mine sawed three drive belts in very short order, but seems to have settled down now, have not had to replace one for some time.

Originally Posted by DanP

Mine is so tight that it stripped the thread off the rack. Had to dismantle and rotate the rack around to a new spot. Just did it again recently.

Dan.

Geez if I found a rack that was tight and stripped I'd be rotating it regularly

Seriously though that is a sign of something bent, binding or buggered :eek: Think I'd be hunting down the cause coz if it continues you could be up for serious dollars to fix it or even more for a new lathe

The speed change should not be that tight.
As part of regular servicing I remove the cover, give that whole area a clean with an air gun and then spray everything except the belt and electrics with a liberal dose of innox.
This seems to work for me.

Cheers
Paul

Andrew


First off, this may sound silly to you but in woodturning classes I have heaps of people that try to change the speed without turning the lathe on!

Secondly: Regular blow out, cleaning and lubrication with something like Inox or some Molybdinum dry grease ( in an aerosol ) is necessary. Strip down every couple of months depending on use, clean and lubricate with the grease. Inbetween a spray with Inox at the first sign of getting tight.

Thirdly: Belt damage occurs due to: 1. Trying to change speeds when stationary. 2. Sharp edges on the slots in the pulleys. Bear in mind they are mass produced and for the price they are sold one cannot expect perfect finish by the chinese. Clean up the edges with a bit of wet & dry 3.Some batches had bad belts that didn't last long. Another problem is that the belt is of incorrect length, either a MC900 ( uses a M22 belt) fitted with a MC1100 ( uses a M22 belt ) or on the MC1100 some suppliers have a M23.5 belt on them. In all these cases the belt is too long and at high speed setting the belt starts climbing out of the motor pulley which wears the belt away in no time, and sometimes the belt flies off flies off altogether. Remedy it by fitting the correct belt. There is an adjustment to stop the rack from opening the pulley too much by removing the speed change handle, then the little plate that holds it in place ( 2 screws ), pull out the shaft, turn it a bit and push it into the next slot. Assemble, if you have adjusted the right way it will stop a regular size belt from climbing up on the motor pulley.

Important to remember that just as even the most expensive and prestigious cars require regular servicing, so does your MC900/1100 lathe. It operates in extremely dusty conditions and the dust cakes on the shafts to make it impossible to change speed.

$50.00 from each of you for this lesson on MC maintenance will be gladly accepted! LOL. Enjoy your MC, they do a good job if well maintained.

I had the same problem right from the start with my MC900. :eek: All my weight (not small) was required into changing speeds. Mine also stripped several teeth off the shaft.

Spoke to the blokes at Carbatec Canberra the initially replaced the shaft for me with no problems or questions asked. When the same problem kept occuring they replaced the complete headstock again with no problems etc.

The difference is amazing, I can now change speeds up and down easily using one finger only.

So I highly recommend you take the headstock back to where you pruchased it and get them to replace the whole sheebang.

The problem with the MC900 or 1100 where it becomes difficult to change speeds will eventually lead to it tearing the belt apart - but it's pretty easy to fix.

The shaft at the rear (out of the motor) tends to be a little rough around the keyway etc. The pulleys are alloy and the shaft steel, so the rough edges of the shaft will shave little bits off the pulley as it moves. One half of the pulley moves along the shaft as you change speeds. Eventually it gets all gummed up with a mixture of filings, dust & lubricant and finally stops moving alltogether.

The fix is pretty easy. Remove the cover and the belt. While holding the spring in place on the shaft (I use a clamp), remove the circlip from the end of the shaft (circlip pliers are a good idea), then the washer and spring.

The outer half of the pulley will most likely not want to move easily off the shaft, so you might need the WD40 Basically you need to remove it, file down any sharp edges or rough spots on the shaft, clean it all, lubricate and reassemble - being careful not to lubricate the face of the pulleys where the belt runs of course

You should also check the pulley at the headstock, clean everything, lubricate where it needs it, and put it back together. Should be running smoothly - run the lathe with the guard off and run the speed up & down slowly and you'll soon see any stiffness etc.

I had a similar problem with my MC1100 from new and found that one half of the pulley that moves along the shaft as you change speeds was dry and completing lacking any lubrication. A spot of WD40 fixed the problem. On no account force the speed charge.

Thanks for the various inputs!

My lathe was an ex-demo from H&F, and about $100 less than the usual price, but with full warranty.

The problem was in the main shaft, not the rear (motor) one.

Anyway, after pulling it all apart, taking pictures, some judicious wet-n-dry, running up to SupaCheap for some Inox and threadlock, putting it all back together, noting that the belt was run up too high on the lowest setting, moving one tooth along the rack - it now takes one finger to flick it from lowest to highest speed in a couple of seconds.

Wow! What a difference!!

I smuggled SWMBO's new digital camera into the shed, and took a video of running up and down through the gears, just in case anyone else wants to see how easy it "should" be on a MC1100. It's a 4Mb file, so unless/until I can find how to shrink it, I'll wait for requests to see if there's any interest before I worry about making it available.

Cheers,
Andrew
(who's recalled his entry form for the World Arm-Wrestling Championship)

For what it's worth. I had the same problem and just renewed the belt ..... 100% improvement.

Rod.

Bit the bullet and pulled apart my headstock to see what I could see...

It was quite hard to get both the front and rear pulleys off, which it shouldn't be because they should be a sliding fit.

I found that the rear (motor) pulley was full of belt dust. The original belt was rubbish and disintegrated after about a month. Obviously I needed to clean it out better after the belt went kaput. A bit of inox and a tidy up and that one now moves freely on the shaft.

The front pulleys were shocking to get off. Had to 'persuade' them with judicious taps with a soft hammer to work them off the spindle. More belt dust in evidence, but the shaft is poorly machined, with a rough finish. A little light sand should clean that up. The main problem though, is that the key is not in the keyway properly, so it sits up at one end. Also, obviously somone tried to get it to go into the keyway by giving it a light BASHING with a very large sledge hammer :mad: The key is 'bruised' in several places. At least I now know what the issue is. When i can manage to get the key out of the keyway (it's stuck tight) I'll clean it all up and put it back together.

Dan