Newbie- New benchmill purchase XJ-25 quill-spindle problem

[cgabel]

I have just purchased an XJ-25 mill from Amadeal in the UK. The tolerances on the spindle quill are not as they should be with lots of lateral movement. .2mm left and right, rigid front to back. No vertical movement. Can this be fixed by adjusting bearings or is it a fault with the machining of the quill/spindle? Has anyone done an upgrade on this machine?

[iGG1e]

When you use the spindle lock, do you see the DRO change under the pressure?

I went through a similar exercise and to be fair to Hugh, he did his best to sort it out. From the head assembly he sent to me, I was able to mix and match to get a much better fit. Unless things have changed, there is no adjustment you can do to make the quill fit better. All down to the machined fit of the quill to head casting.

[cgabel]

Many thanks for your reply.
The DRO does not change when tightened, with either the feed all the way up or all the way down. I took the motor head casting off to have a look at the bearing, and there appears to be no play there
You can however wiggle the top of the spindle when in the up position. From this, it sounds like the same problem you had.
Do you know if the parts list for the xj-20 is relevant to the 25? I'm still trying to gain an understanding of the actual structure of the quill/spindle, and bearings.
On one forum (can't find it now) the writer suggested he would have the mechanism hard chromed, then reground to fit.
Cheers
Chris

[M250cnc]

I too had this problem amongst others.

But i did fix it but it is a little extreme.

My problem was the fit of the quill in the machine casting.

All the way up it was .1mm all down .6mm total ****e "Rhymes With Kite".

My first option was to get the quill hard chrome plated and then ground to the correct size. This was going to cost about £300, so i didn't do it that way.

What i did was to take out the spindle "Which wasn't the problem" i then made a vertical cut all the way through the head casting.

This made the bore of the head casting close up.

I then rigged up some 10mm screws that when tightened OPEN UP THE BORE for the quill.

I fitted the spindle back in after a through clean i then use these screws to adjust the fit of the quill "So it just falls down under gravity"

The quill now works like a charm.

I have also decided that i am going to upgrade this further by mounting my stepper to drive the quill similar to this thread http://www.machsupport.com/forum/ind...c,8357.10.html second from last post on page two.

To do this i will be re machining it on my BP as i am not happy with the 3rd method i am currently using.

Phil_H

[iGG1e]

Sounds like the readings Phil had was also my problem. Glad my fix came from the other head matching my quill very well and not having to resort to major surgery.

I think the 25 is a 20 but with power feed, so parts and diagram (as much as that is worth in the manual) should apply. Once you've pushed down the spring loaded cup/washer on the spindle, the C clip/washer will extract and then the spindle can be dropped from the head. The quill drive mechanism is easy to take apart and there are no coiled springs to worry about as the return spring is the one at the top of the quill. Just try not to get any grease on the fine feed mechanism as you'll lose the friction it needs to feed.

[cgabel]

Many thanks to you both for the information. And yes Hugh from Amadeal is helpful, supportive and states he honours his warranty regardless of tweaks. Next step is to strip it down and see which bit is not as it should be, as there seem to be a variety of flavours to this lack of precision fit.
Cheers
Chris

[cgabel]

Hello Phil H
Do you have any photos of the casting surgery? Hopefuly I won't have to go that far but it would be good to see what you did. If no photos, how far top to bottom did the cuts go, and what was the configuration of the bolts that held the front of the casting to the back?
Cheers
Chris