Cleaning The Quill

[Nick]

I think Ed and Daddy-o had it right. Extend the quill, clean the teeth with a toothbrush, the wax AND BUFF the surface with paste wax. Make sure you don't leave globs of wax in the teeth. No grease, no oil. These will mix with fine sawdust and create a gummy mess.

If you need to remove the quill to get at the last few teeth, loosen the allen screw in the top of the headstock. If you've never done this before, you may have to dig out the ackempunky that we pack in the allen screw at the factory just to make this chore all the more exciting. Extend the quill until you feel it loosen and pull the quill free. DON'T let go of the quill feed lever -- keep the tension on the spring. Turn the quill stop dial clockwise all the way (past the 4-1/4" mark) and tighten the lock -- this will preserve the spring tension while you're off doing other things.

Clean and wax the quill. Blow or brush out the sawdust from the inside cavity where the quill bearings are. Reach into the socket in the headstock with a toothbrush and clean the teeth of the quill gear as well. Loosen the quill stop and rotate the gear to get at all of the teeth, but remember where you started so you can restore the correct spring tension once you're satisfied the gear is clean.

Fit the quill back in its socket. Push it back until the teeth hit the quill feed gear. Loosen the quill stop lock and feed the quill into the headtstock, letting the spring tension retract it. Tighten the allen screw on the top of the headstock so it engages the groove in the quill. To adjust that allen screw, extend the quill and tighten the allen screw so it holds the quill in the extended position. Then back off the allen screw until the quill snaps back into the headstock. You can keep the ackempunky as a memento -- you don't have to pack it back in the screw.

If you should loose the tension on the spring, the correct number of turns to restore it is 2-1/2 from wherever the lever stops turning on its own.

With all good wishes,

[flyp51rc]

Well the fact that your manuel is from 1954 says alot. You are no longer recommended to remove the quill, and "grease, and oil" you are now recommend to "wax" the quill. Grease and oil attract saw dust and shavings and can gum up over time. Get the quill good and clean and apply several coats of wax and buff it off. As was stated by the traveling instructor, adjust the depth guage to keep the spring from unwinding, and DO NOT TIGHTEN THE LOCK without the quill in place you can damage your headstock casting.