Bridgeport Boss quill binding

[Randy K]

My Bridgeport Boss quill is siezed in the quill housing. The spindle rotates freely.

Is there a bushing in the housing that the quill slides in? Or is it just a machined fit?

If we take the torque rod - between the z axis limit switches - off, should that allow the quill to rotate back and forth in order to get to the socket head screw that holds the quill onto the ball screw out?

How do I remove the quill?
If I can get it out, is there a part I can replace to fix this problem - bushing etc. - or is my quill housing and quill trashed.

Thanks

[machintek]

The quill is lapped into the housing. The housing is cast iron. The quill is chromed. Clearance is usually about .0004 inches. Typically after a lot of use, I see the chrome peel and jam the quill. I do not have a solution that does not create more damage. In the past, companies with deeper pockets would replace the quill and housing.

George

[Randy K]

If I understand right, my mill will not run again without a new quill and housing. Considering this... do you have any idea where I might get a replcement quill and housing, and what kind of $ I'm looking at?

Thanks for your help

[keebler303]

Search on this, it has been covered before here. I seem to remember flushing the quill with large quantities of kerosene. It may be salvagable if you can get it apart without total destruction. The housing could be cleaned up and the quill could be re-chromed, I think anyway.

Good Luck
Matt

[machintek]

I am not saying with 100 percent certainty that the chrome peeling is what created your stuck quill. I have seen a few stuck quills. All at one customer drilling a few thousand holes in plates to extrude material for rugs. He uses old BOSS 5 machines which in this application run faster than the BOSS 8 and 9. Also the steppers require less attention than servo motors. He had a pile of these older machines and would order a quill and housing at about a year interval. Not bad considering how many thousand holes he drilled.
The only other stuck quill I had was on a S1STD head I received from the Marshall Space Flight Center. They had pressed in bushings into the 2 bottom quill housing mounts (so they would not come out) but thus egged out the quill housing and thus grabbed the quill solid. I had to machine those out to free the quill. After all, they truly are rocket scientists so what do you expect.

George

[mactec54]

Hi randy K

If you can get it out ok you can sand them up in the area with emery cloth take any
bumps out of the housing sand /lap in the area were it was stuck clean very well
including the pockets in the housing to make sure there is no grit or dirt any were
the whole head has to be disassembled to do this & it will work then make sure when
you assemble it all back to gether that the oil is lubing the ballscrew as this is were
the quill gets its oil from & put a new felt at the nose of the housing this helps to keep the chips out when the spindle is going up & down.