Thread: Back Gear mesh adjustment

The back-gear on my 260 was gradually moving out of mesh today. After about 20 seconds it would get very noisy and I would have to open the lid and reengage the lever. So I adjusted the bolt shown in the photo in the mistaken belief it was the tensioner for the back-gear lever. It turns out this bolt sets the engagement of the gears.

Anyway I worked out how to adjust the tension and that problem has gone away. However the lathe is now making a heck of a racket in back-gear. I've set the bolt to give a tiny amount of slack in the gear train. I don't know whether to tighten or loosen the mesh of the gears. I don't want to experiment in case I stuff up the gears. Is there a proper way to adjust this bolt?

Chris

If its rattling tighten the gap/mesh,if its whinning/whiring release the gap/mesh.
If overly concerned set a gap of .002"/.003'.

OK thanks, it sounds a bit like both but probably more rattling. I'll tighten it and see if that fixes it.

BTW, how do you measure the gap? I couldn't find anything on Google.

Use a piece of paper or plasterseen.

HI,

Originally Posted by jack620

The back-gear on my 260 was gradually moving out of mesh today. After about 20 seconds it would get very noisy and I would have to open the lid and reengage the lever. So I adjusted the bolt shown in the photo in the mistaken belief it was the tensioner for the back-gear lever. It turns out this bolt sets the engagement of the gears.

How do you adjust the back-gear? My comes out all the time, I held onto it thinking the eccentric was stuffed.

Cheers Ben

Ben,
you adjust the tension on the eccentric shaft with a 5/32" allen key. There's a hole in the top of the headstock casting on the RHS of the shaft. Deep inside that hole is the adjusting screw. It's a fine line between being tight enough to prevent the gears jumping out of mesh and too tight to move by hand.
Chris

Thanks for that Jack, I'll have a look this arvo.

Cheers Ben