I too had some issures when fitting the unit to my VMV in March last year. It is not as, the advertismnet suggests ,a simple bolt on addition

From memory after throwing away the alloy casting for fitting to a Bridgeport I had to clean up the threads with taps

Mine seemed to be OK for tpi but the holes was undersize . The bits supplied fitted OK but I had to machine about 6 mm from the end of the to allow the threaded collar to fit onto the endo of the leadscrew . It took some time to get the shim seltection correct to allow the correct clearence for the gear. Google Align to get help on setting up the clearence . The documentation gives he correct angular fee play needed between the gears . It is critical and took me several attempts to get it correct.

I had an additional problem in that the transforner unit had a fault. The live 110V out to the socket was trapped under the terminal by the insulation. No Volts = No current = No power = Big Sulk .

Hi John.

I have fitted a few of these Align table drives, not from Warco but from other suppliers. They all came with the hardened inner race for the needle roller bearing, which was needed. If yours is missing then did the box the drive unit came in show any signs of being already opened and the contents tampered with? It is not unheard of with some items.

One job that can need doing before shimming the mesh of the bevel gears, but is sometimes overlooked, is to remove the table feedscrew end float relative to the table.

If there is some feedscrew end float that is not removed first then the carefully shimmed gear mesh can alter as the table travels from left to right and back. As the table changes direction this forces the feedscrew mounted gear in and out of mesh with the table mounted drive unit gear.

My earlier Taiwanese made Warco VMC has castellated nuts on the ends of the feedscrew which are used to carefully adjust the ball race bearings. The Align kit should also contain shims to adjust the the clearance between the handwheel dial and the drive unit body, a small clearance here keeps grease in and dirt and swarf out of the drive gears.

Edited By Lathejack on 22/08/2015 20:20:05

Edited By Lathejack on 22/08/2015 20:21:08

Edited By Lathejack on 22/08/2015 20:21:49

Edited By Lathejack on 22/08/2015 20:31:32

Hi John

Took my power feed off this morning to check what I had done . I knew that is wasn't a straight "bolt it on "

I made a 10.5mm spacer to fit onto the shaft and inside the needle roller bearing.so my assembly order is,

10.5mm long spacer , steel inner for needle roller bearing ,three shims to set gear clearence ,gear assembly,

dial assembly ,handle, tab washer , casellated nut.

I took the opportunity to clean up the edge of the scale assembly and to slightly inder cut it so that it forms a

better seal against muck getting into the gears.

With the spacer in place the axial load is transfered ,via the inner of the needle rollers not the cage, to the inner

of the ball bearing so tightening up the castellated nut does not affect the gear setting.

Warco tec support were very helpfu when i asked about having to machine the brass gear shaft l

Hope this helps

1 Check the actual available travel of the scale. Marked 150 may well offer more then just centre up.

The Align units run off 110Volt and need a transformer £50 to £80. Mines wired direct in to the box no American plugs available. Personally would run it off the same socket as the DRO.