Meddings 9373/LT/III pillar drill

[D Hart]

Hi all,
I’m looking at buying a Meddings 9373/LT/III pillar drill. It’s in fairly good nick overall, with only a trace of play in the quill at full extension. However, when its running its sounds like something is binding slightly, once every revolution, but only when the spindle/quill is retracted; as soon as its lowered it runs very smoothly. Any ideas what this could be and how difficult/expensive it might be to fix? Bearing in mind I am not a machinist or engineer… And that its not particularly cheap - the asking price seems to be pretty much the going rate for these drills based on a brief trawl of the internet (c. £350)

As usual, any help/advice gratefully received!

D

 

[t8hants]

Lift the belt guards and check inside there, look for rubbing or strike marks on the guards, would be my first option.
Operate the machine with the guard lifted and see if the noise goes away.

 

[D Hart]

Hi T8hants,

Sorry I should have said, it also makes the same noise with the belt guard removed, so it's not that. I do wonder whether the belt is simply over-tensioned, but that's probably wishful thinking! I hope to return tomorrow for another look, so will check that...

 

[t8hants]

Does it make the same noise turning by hand and with the belt removed?

 

[D Hart]

Ahh, hadn't thought of looking at that! Thanks, that's very useful, I'll check that as well tomorrow when I go back. I did want to fiddle about with the belt tension anyway, as per my previous post. Any other suggestions as to what to try/look for?

 

[t8hants]

I don't know that particular version of the Meddings, but the one I had at work was nearly bomb proof. I wonder if on the belt pulleys the key in the key way has slipped. this is usually on the quill pulley. I would like to see about 15mm deflection on the belt from straight with a medium push, if its rock hard it is too tight. Your description of the sound does imply binding, is the quill lubricated or has it got a dry spot?

 

[D Hart]

Thanks t8hants, will check lubrication tomorrow, though i don't recall noticing that anything was obviously dry. The chap who's selling it wondered whether the quill spindle may be slightly bent or out of true, hence only binding when the quill is retracted, but i'm not sure how likely that even is...

 

[t8hants]

In theory it is possible if the drill ever had a major snatch and the work-piece went round till it hit the pillar or something else, but you say this only occurs with the quill up, so that is unlikely. The other way is mishandling when the machine is being moved. I would have assumed that an out of true quill would show itself on full extension.

 

[D Hart]

Thanks t8hants, this is all really useful and gives me something to look more carefully at tomorrow.