Monarch Power Compound Disassembly | Gears Everywhere!

Finally back to work on getting the DRO installed, and the first step in that is to remove the compound and cross slide so we can machine one side of the cross slide. I've been anxious about finding trouble by doing this, but looking forward to the challenge.

Contact me:

[bcbloc]

14:54 looks like you have enough room to mount your DRO to the left of that nut and have it nice and protected inside the carriage. That is how Robin did his. Also that way you could avoid having to cut on that beautiful cross slide.

[spectrum]

You're a brave man! Lots of parts to keep track of. Very methodical working. Really enjoyed the take down. Paul

[carlwhite]

Its always great to open an old machine, always a flip of a coin as to what you find, You had a win.

[jeffanderson]

I’m going to raise this up the flag pole to see if anyone salutes.
I think the grease fittings are for way oil, just like a Bridgeport.

[MrPatdeeee]

Can't wait to see it finished. Awesome job Aaron. Our kind of man you be. Oh yeah! Thank you so much for what you share with us.

[jeffanderson]

I enjoy these Monarch lathe break down videos. Being a mere mortal, I rarely get to see or be in the same shop with a blessed Monarch.
Yours my friend, is a beauty.
I agree with several others that you may want to flake the upper surfaces for oil retention, someone went to a lot of work and expense to restore that lathe. Clean the cross slide and compound of all grease and generously oil with Vactra II WY oil, reassemble with care and your problem will probably go away.

[petermurphy]

WooHoo Aaron, you've hit 10K Subs. Well done👍😎👍

[jackheath]

those zerk fittings on the compound might be for oil. i have seen both mills and lathes configured like this. Double Boost has these on his lathe and an oilier to oil them.

[Hoaxer]

That machine definitely has some gravity to it! And now more of it is pretty on the inside too, nice job. I agree with the way oil also.

[ianagos]

Well to add to what a few others said use oil on the ways not grease. The use of grease can be a reason the ways are scored.

Also the surfaces you showed looked like they were scraped and had no flaking. I recommend you flake the top (the part that sits on top of the ways) Eg the top of the slide surfaces for oil retention. But even if you don’t want to go through that trouble just hit the ways with a fine stone briefly so as to clean up any dings you just put in there during disassembly and give it lots of vactra 2 and call it a day. You lathe looks very dry from lack of lubrication.

[tiredoldmechanic]

Monarchs are such high quality machines.

[glennstasse]

“I don’t want to take this apart because I’m afraid of what I might find.” That’s exactly how I feel about going to the doctor. Fears often well founded, too! You have a good bit of nerve taking that thing apart. Hope it goes back together well.

[lloyd]

I'm amazed at the engineering it took to get that all to work. I wonder how much that lathe cost when it was new?

[theoldman]

One of the first things I learned, the the lathe is one of the few things not living that is capable of recreating itself if you have a confident knowledgeable and well-trained operator.

[ROBRENZ]

Enjoyed Aaron, I agree about oil not grease.
ATB, Robin

[bostedtap]

Great exploratory of a Monarch cross slide and power compound. Ground surface to scrapped surface is fine, wonder if the clunking is simply the bevel gears, maybe one of them is misaligned.
Thanks for sharing.

[russkepler]

I'm with the other guys here suggesting that those Zerks are for way oil and not for grease - unless the Monarch lubrication instructions call for grease. My mill has Zerks on the vertical ways and elevating screw that call for oil, I use a small Lincoln grease gun I adapted to oil on those.

[paulhunt]

Aaron,

I have no experience with Monarch lathes, so I enjoy it when you document your mechanical disassembly. You do so much with extreme care they I expect your techniques to be always flawless. You made me cringe when you used the Starrett pin punch as a pry bar. A sheep's foot or rolling pry bar would have been my preferable tool. This would give you control and far less opportunity to cause unintentional damage. Your punch prying required small effort so all ended well. The Starrett punch pins are hardened making them a poor prying bar choice. I have three sets of that size and one of the sets is incomplete. I used one for line up prying and it snapped of surprisingly easily. I like Starrett punches due to the full length cylindrical punch pin. This allows deeper access than mechanic's common brands like MAC, PROTO and Snap-On. Starrett punch bodies are softer than the punch pin absorbing hammer blow force without chipping and the knurling and logo detailing just makes them feel good to use. Mechanic's brands achieve the hardness variation in the punch body with heat treating variation in the same piece of steel. I don't think that this method is as good as the Starrett approach. IE, I own more broken mechanic's brands pin punches than broken Starrett pin punches.

I have a lot of experience with Clausing-Colechester engine lathes, and some Le Blond and Mazak experience. Nothing has had a powered compound. You claimed little compound leadscrew/nut backlash. The nut appeared to be brass, but I couldn't tell if it is a split nut or not. Clausing-Colechester uses a cross slide leadscrew split nut. This allows you to adjust for minimum backlash. Leadscrews generally wear unevenly, with less wear on the extreme travel areas. Eliminating backlash in the worn areas can make it too tight in the unworn areas. Compound use is normally minimal, so the need for backlash compensating nuts may be superfluous.

Clausing-Colechester made it easier to remove the compound T bolts by relieving the slot in the top of the cross slide groove. The T olts can come out the top without having to remove the cross slide to take them out the bottom. This is important, because production lathe operators sometimes have herculean arms and can destroy T bolts surprisingly quickly.

I have installed DRO's many times. I will be interested to see if you being a relative novice understand procedures well enough to ensure highest accuracy. What brand and model have you chosen? Our shop was exceedingly loyal to Accurite until we couldn't get parts for AR5 and mini scales. Newall technology was being accepted at that time and this became our standard. I even applied Newall to a CNC application after repeated Sony Magnescale failures. I never encountered a Newall hardware failure.

I would still like to meet you someday. We think a lot alike.

Oh, I forgot... Try Snap-On dead blow brass or bronze faced hammers for driving your chisels and punches. You will increase control and reduce damage (mushrooming and chipping) to your chisels and punches.

[johanea]

I sense you might have been watching Keith F lately?
He just finished a 5 parts series overhauling his lathe.
Looking forward to part two with thanks.

[TheKnacklersWorkshop]

Hi Aaron,
When i was an apprentice, my instructors said that anyone can take something apart, but they can't always put it back together... i don't think this will be the case with you.
Take care
Paul, ,