Frozen Chuck on Viceroy Head stock

[nodnostik]

Hi
I am a newbi to this site. I have recently purchased a used Viceroy Wood Lathe it is generally in good condition but I am having great difficulty in removing the 4Inch 3 Jaw Burnard Chuck. I ahe managed to free it from the backplate, but can not move the back plate. Looks like it has not been removed for a long time.
I am currently soaking it with wd 40, I have tried the usual methods, bar and brute force, I have even tapped it gently round the outside to see if I can get the rust/gunge to release its hold. I have shied away from heating up the back plate as yet but would appreciate any ideas.
Thanks in advance.

 

[beech1948]

Well it seems your doing all the right things except that using WD40 is not a good idea. WD40 is a water displacing mix and is not intended for use as a penetrating fluid.

You can buy penetrating fluids from Halfords/auto shops or simply make your own. A good mix is 50% diesel and 50% acetone...has the advantage of being fairly cheap as well. I have used this where the acetone was provided by a cheap bottle of nail varnish remover and it worked well.

The american site OWWM recommends a few mixes a very well recommended one being brake fluid / diesel and acetone. I find the brake fluid to be a bit too harsh for my tastes.

Hope this helps

Al

 

[Aled Dafis]

PlusGas is a pretty good off the shelf penetrating fluid, much better than WD40.

In fact I no longer use WD40 as it's too much of a half way house to be of any real value, PlusGas is a better penetrant whereas AC90 is a better lubricant (and usually cheaper than WD40)

Cheers
Aled

 

[CHJ]

Welcome to the forum Don, attempting to penetrate the threads is the current best option I think, but as has been said wd40 is not the best fluid for the purpose, I find diesel or heating oil works much better.

Having soaked as much as possible then I would suggest you refit the chuck body and use a stiff bar across the jaws to provide the leverage and have another go at releasing it.

If that does not do it then I can only say go with your last resort of heating the backplate to try and separate the bonding oxidisation.

When well soaked have you spun it up a few times? It may be that it's not the threads that are holding but the location/reference collar area at the rear and those will be larger diameter and may just benefit from some internal spread of thread penetrated fluid.

 

[dickm]

There is a real horror story on the Yahoo Myford lathe group forum about a chap trying to remove a "frozen" backplate from a ML7. He was ultimately successful, but it took a couple of weeks of trying different things. Hope your saga doesn't last that long. But when you do get it removed, it's well worthwhile installing a very thin plastic (milk carton?) washer between the backplate and the nose register to prevent a recurrence.

 

[nodnostik]

Thanks for your comments so far, I will try again when I have soaked it for a while with Plus-gas or its equivalent. I will replace the chuck on the back plate and try to shift again.On the outboard end of the spindle there is a .375 " hole going through the shaft just at the rear of the threads. I will see if I can use that for locking the spindle.
I will keep you posted as to the outcome and the method used if/when we are successful. I will definitely make a palstic washer from a milk carton to use on both inboard and outboard thread ends as suggested by Dick M.
Many thanks.

 

[nodnostik]

Good morning one and all,
I have spent the majority of the last two days battling with this darned stuck chuck, still no success. I have resigned myself to having to cut it off by destroying the back plate (very very carefully to avoid damaging any threads on the head stock) The back plate is made from cast iron so it should not be too hard to cut. I will try drilling chain holes in it and try to split it into two so I guess it is just time and patience and hard work.

 

[CHJ]

Sorry to here that you are having to resort to that, but good to see you are not giving up. Don't envy you all the grey dust, took me days to loose the stuff after my last machining task on a piece cast iron.

 

[nodnostik]

Hi to every one.
Success, I am pleased to report that the chuck backplate is now off Spindle nose, with no harm done to the threads.
Next Problem is to wire the motor to an inverter, (this appears to be a 3 Phase field and neutral plus earth) I am not familiar with the 4 wire plus earth. Guess I will have to do a lot more reading, I have seen on ebay a 240 to 3 phase converter marketed by Clarkes Machine tools at £265. I have a mitsubishi controller in the work shop not being used, that will run the existing motor on the Lathe, I just need to sort out the hookup details
Many thanks to all that offered support and advice on my previous posting.
Best wishes to all.

 

[CHJ]

This info. prepared by Bob may be of help sorting things out.

Use of Induction Motors in the Home Workshop