Misaligned Quill Depth Dial

[dusty]

Where is there anything "D" shaped in this set up?

[garys]

When I had my headstock apart a few years ago for internal repairs, I had to realign the indicator on reassembly to make it read right. You can do the same.

[JPG]

Where is there anything "D" shaped in this set up?

The quill spring housing(inside the headstock). The flat part creates clearance for the quill spring that pokes out.

Had I remembered that last night, I would not have flapped about a D shaped hole. IIRC it is the reason for the flat portion at the bottom.

[dusty]

I checked both of mine and neither one of them lines up with anything specific; however, they work just fine. I'll consider some attempt at alignment the next time I have the machines torn down.

I have become a firm believer in "if it works...don't fix it"!!!

[JPG]

I checked both of mine and neither one of them lines up with anything specific; however, they work just fine. I'll consider some attempt at alignment the next time I have the machines torn down.

I have become a firm believer in "if it works...don't fix it"!!!

It should at least be close to the 0 mark when the dial is rotated full counter clockwise to the stop.

When setting a depth limit, I advance the quill to the reference surface and lock the quill. Then I adjust the dial for the depth desired, tighten the depth stop wingnut and release the quill lock.

The tool(bit or whatever) will travel past the reference surface the distance set on the dial and stop.

[dusty]

I checked both of mine and neither one of them lines up with anything specific; however, they work just fine. I'll consider some attempt at alignment the next time I have the machines torn down.

I have become a firm believer in "if it works...don't fix it"!!!

It should at least be close to the 0 mark when the dial is rotated full counter clockwise to the stop.

When setting a depth limit, I advance the quill to the reference surface and lock the quill. Then I adjust the dial for the depth desired, tighten the depth stop wingnut and release the quill lock.

The tool(bit or whatever) will travel past the reference surface the distance set on the dial and stop.

OKAY. I am game.

Why should it at least be close?

Does Shopsmith documentation speak to this?

BTW With my go to Model 510 (upgraded to 520) has never been torn down so the quill depth mechanism has never been removed from the headstock. It is as Shopsmith sent it to me new. The set screw is still buried beneath ackempunky.

[JPG]

I checked both of mine and neither one of them lines up with anything specific; however, they work just fine. I'll consider some attempt at alignment the next time I have the machines torn down.

I have become a firm believer in "if it works...don't fix it"!!!

It should at least be close to the 0 mark when the dial is rotated full counter clockwise to the stop.

When setting a depth limit, I advance the quill to the reference surface and lock the quill. Then I adjust the dial for the depth desired, tighten the depth stop wingnut and release the quill lock.

The tool(bit or whatever) will travel past the reference surface the distance set on the dial and stop.

OKAY. I am game.

Why should it at least be close?

Does Shopsmith documentation speak to this?

BTW With my go to Model 510 (upgraded to 520) has never been torn down so the quill depth mechanism has never been removed from the headstock. It is as Shopsmith sent it to me new. The set screw is still buried beneath ackempunky.

For cripes sake Dusty, that is the purpose of the index and dial calibration.

"0" is where the quill motion stops as the stop is encountered.

That can be anywhere within the quill motion range. That is why the 'dial' is adjustable.

Re 'factory setting', close is all that is reasonable. These parts are not precision.

No the index need not be dead on '0", but it would be 'nice' if it did.

[reible]

BTW the material of the spring housing is pretty soft so when you take it apart the set screw will have left a very noticeable mark. I've always attempted to insert it with notch mark indexed to the set screw. From my observation this is how mine all have seemed to be from the factory. So using that location it will be at or very near the location it came from the factory.

On some used machines I've found it had been moved around a bit with several bite locations. I've always returned to what I think is the correct location and that seems to work fine.

IMG_2496scm.jpg (97.39 KiB) Viewed 1650 times

Ed

[JPG]

Upon further 'pondering', I realized that that the positioning of the index mark really does not matter other than placing it at a 'visible' location.

That position is indeed at the set screw as it is visible from the 'top' in horizontal mode, and from the 'front' in vertical drill press mode.

Absolute positioning relative to the set screw does not affect the function.

Index / dial calibration accuracy is determined by the cast ears on the quill feed housing and the dial. Again not precision surfaces. However if one observes the 0 / index mark alignment and duplicates that at another dial setting, the quill will stop dead on that setting. i.e. the dial markings are quite accurate.