Greetings all!

[Mike666Participant @mike666]

Newbie

[Mike666Participant @mike666]

Hi Everyone, I’m Mike baded in Surrey and new to machining. I did a short course at Axminster and then got a used AMA180 lathe… mainly to make small parts fastenings bushes and bearings for classic motorcycles and cars. Ambition is good.. skill level less so but I have made a few bits such as fork slider bushes and a valve guide tool.Lots to do, lots to learn!… and straightaway does anyone have a guide to stripping the AMA 180?
Best wishes
Mike

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Hi Mike welcome to the forum. Plenty of answers here. Might be worth contacting Amadeal Ltd and see if the have a manual for that machine.

Good luck with the tear down. regards

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

Hi Mike welcome to the forum there is a wealth of knowledge on here just ask. If you strip anything complicated take a picture or two as you work it helps.

David

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Hi Mike

Welcome to the madhouse, you will find that are many contributors here that are only too willing to help regardless of how experienced one is or how basic/complex a question asked, expect to get diverse suggestions as there are often many ways to complete a job.

Do you have a manual for your lathe as, although it may be basic it, will have a generic exploded diagram of the lathe for spares reference. This might help you to see what goes where etc. The AMA 180 would appear to be very similar to the Chester DB7 or the Warco WM180. If you haven't got a manual then if you go to the forum on the Chester Machine Tools site and look the DB7 thread it contains a copy of the manual which may help, you can link to it here.

I have a DB7 lathe and found it to be a very gutsy and reliable little lathe.

Hope this helps.

Martin

edit 'Welcome'

Edited By Martin W on 10/02/2018 18:29:44

[Mike666Participant @mike666]

Thanksall, yes I do have a manual and although it is for the Warco machine they are practically identical. If all else fails I was going to tackle it guided by that … although it doesnt make clear where to start and in what order to tackle it. My lathe has developed a loud rubbing noise and Im suspecting a drive belt or bearing needs replacing.
Cheers
Mike

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Mike

Without knowing what kind of rubbing sound you're getting it is difficult/ 'nigh on impossible' to try and establish a likely cause. If it just a rubbing noise and not a bearing grumble then I would start by removing the headstock end cover and look at the belts and pulleys. It may be that the spindle of the intermediate pulley between the motor and headstock pulleys has worked loose and allowed that pulley make contact with the headstock casting. You could also try disengaging the change gears to see if that helps cause they can make quite a noise if not meshed properly.

Whatever it good luck in finding it and hope that when you do its easy and cheap to fix.

Cheers

Martin

[Mike666Participant @mike666]

Thanks I will give it a try and let you know how I get on. Its also turning a slight taper but I suspect thst is operator error or blunt tooling. I have put a video on my blog
http://myamalathe.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/noisy-running.html?m=1
If you want to see hear it for yourself.
Cheers
Mike

[Andy HoldawayParticipant @andyholdaway]

Mike, That noise sounds like the change gears 'singing'. My Warco 1327 sounds like that if the gears are not meshed quite right. These are the gears that feed the lead screw. Disengage the drive and it will disappear!

Andy

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Mike

Have watched your video, link above, and the noise sounds like the change gears are not meshing properly, as I suggested earlier and Mike confirmed above. It is possible that the 'Banjo' has moved, that is the arm which carries the change gears, and the gears are not meshing properly or even just rubbing. If you identify the Banjo you will find a cap head screw at the bottom which locks the Banjo in position. Slacken this then move the Banjo so that the gears are completely dis-engaged from the fixed gear on the spindle and re-tighten the cap head screw that holds the Banjo in place and hopefully that should fix the problem.

Hope this helps

Martin

Edited By Martin W on 11/02/2018 10:18:21

[Mike666Participant @mike666]

Thanks very much Andy/Martin. That sounds easy enough. The Warco manual doesnt mention a banjo but does talk about a slider that moves or locks the gears… is that what you mean?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hello Mike, welcome to the forum.

The 'banjo' is the arm the gears are fitted to, it rotates around the leadscrew bearing and needs to be secure.

[Andy HoldawayParticipant @andyholdaway]

Mike,

Assuming your headstock is like this, the gears ringed in green shouldn't be engaged unless you are using the saddle or crosslide feed.

Move the lever ringed in red to the central position to disengage the gears.

Andy

[Mike666Participant @mike666]

Can’t thank you enough guys. I had thought I was looking at a major strip down and costly repair. As it was a min with an Allen key sorted it. Lathe now silent!!

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Mike, usefuly website about the WM180 at *** Andy's Machines *** some upgrades and mods to make the lathe more useful.

John

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome aboard!

At the risk of "teaching granny..", gears will, be noisy if the mesh is incorrect, especially with too little, or no, backlash.

A handy way of setting backlash is to run a sheet of paper (about 3 thou or 0.1mm thick) into each mesh before tightening everything into place.

(Cigarette papers are usually about half that thickness, so are not really suitable)

Howard

[Mike666Participant @mike666]

Yep… I had done that… apparently incorrectly. The problem was that the top of the slide frame was actually in contact with the spindle and rubbing rather than gear noise.
Eggs well worth the sucking!

[Author]

Posts