further investigated my problem. i am basing this info. per the illustrations of the quick change collett system in the manual available on this forum.

with the hand feed lever in the extreme up position the operating ring is already above the groove in the yolk. it must be brought down to engage.

this has also reduced the space between the operating ring and the quill. so as it engages there is no more room for the quill to continue down and loosen the collett, because the quill is also hitting the yolk.
now, the quill cannot move up either, because the tool in the collett will not allow the collett to be tightened any further.
either way, its stuck.
also, somebody has installed the cutting tool so the collett is gripping the cutting portion of the tool, like its pushed up too far. i think they should have used a smaller collett. finally, they also shaved both sides of the adjusting nut so it can be gripped with a wrench. thats not how it was designed to work. would some body please tell me what to do, or defer this post to somebody who is willing to talk about it. very much appreciated. thank you

Hi daveys
Maybe I can help. I am not quite sure what you mean by the way you describe the condition but lets try. If the flange (the one that fits into the groove in the yolk, the one I believe you call the operating ring) is up closer to the quill housing( that is the cylinder that the spindle is in) then it is in the release position. If it is closer to the nose of the spindle, that is the locking position. It is normal to have to bring the quill down about an eighth of an inch to be able to engage the yolk. If it is up and still tight then it looks like someone has tightened the collet with a wrench instead of the normal way. Be sure the flange fits into the groove of the yolk to open or close the collet. I'm sure most of this you already know but I mention it just in case. Is the quill stop down far enough to operate the collet lock okay? If you cannot get it to open reply to this and we'll go on from here
Gary