Has anybody ever seen this happen before…?
Does anybody see a problem with using the machine on just the three remaining lower X Carriage wheels? The X Carriage still seems to be firmly affixed to the rails without any play in the Z direction.
If I do need to use the four lower wheels, then does anybody have a recommendation for a repair that could be made in place?
Thank you.
If I’m seen correctly, it’s not the hole bored. Looks like your Eccentric nut just go true it. Did you try another nut to see if it fits the hole.
I agree with Alan. The hole is not enlarged as the anodized black is still clearly inside the hole. If the nut has somehow “bored” through it would be raw aluminum and not black. So in the same breath, not calling anyone “a liar” just thinking the wrong label for the problem is in play here… Can you post a picture of the wheel the goes here with all the nuts and such as it came off? If you HAVE to mill without it for a project on a deadline, it can be done for a short time… But in the long run it is not good for the mill and will effect things over time in a number of ways. I am thinking it is fixable without having to replace the X carriage. If we can see a shot or two of the wheel, screw and nuts I think we can get a better understanding and work on a fix without removing the whole thing. That will be the goal at least as we all know how big of a pain that would be to do.
Hey Guys,
I jumped the gun on posting this. After the wheel fell off while the machine was running I made a hasty assumption about what happened. The eccentric nut does not fit through the hole - so it did not bore through the X Carriage. I will re-examine what happened this weekend and post a follow up. My apologies to the forum for taking up anybody’s time with this.
Sincerely,
Charles
Glad to hear that. As long as you solve the problem easy way, we’re good here.
Might I suggest a different method of mounting the eccentric nuts, that won’t come loose over time and fall out:
M5 nylon lock nuts all around my on mill did a world of good in regards to stopping this sort of thing. I totally forgot to mention it before. I paid less then $8 shipping (prime) in Amazon for 100 of them. One of the easiest and best things I have done for the mill recently.
Like the idea of reversing the bolt through the wheel. Simple but effective I suspect. On my machine, there was sufficient bolt length that I was simply able to add a second “lock nut”. Again, simple but effective…
This happened to me. The nut didn’t bore completely through so I was able to put the nut back in position for the correct tension then I just put an extra M5 Lyon lock washer over top. Essentially I’m using the original nut as a spacer and the lock nut to keep it in place. It worked really well so I actually did this on all the other wheels with eccentric nuts as a preventative measure. I didn’t want to use lock tight in case I ever had to adjust or change a wheel. I wouldn’t use the carriage with just three wheels though.
I didn’t get back to using the machine until this evening. I’ve added the M5 lock nut on top of the eccentric nut as suggested and now everything seems to be running well. I will probably add the lock nuts to the rest of the eccentric nuts as a precaution. Once again, the nut did not bore through the X Carriage as I previously thought. Thank you for the responses!
