Somebody told me the only time they have seen a quill stick is when its been run without oil.

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My oiler fires every fifteen minutes via a little electromechanical timer. There has always been some oil on the quill when I have bothered to check, but rarely a puddle on the table. Just a few drips. Regardless of whether or not I try to save the quill at this point I'll take it out of the machine so I'll get a good look. If I don't use it I'll want it out of the way, and the hole in the nose plugged up. I have not disconnected the quill from the drive carriage yet. I have some slim hope that the carriage is the problem, but I highly doubt it. Not much there, but 4 roller bearings, and I already loosened them up.

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Well, I spent a little time this morning getting the quill out. I removed the clamp bolt from the carriage and the snap ring from the quill. Then I slid a long bar through the carriage across the cross pieces in the head. A heavy tool holder went in the spindle, and I raised the table until I could clamp it in a vise. Then I lowered the table, and it drew the quill right out. This is what I found.

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At some point it must have been run hard without oil. There is nasty scoring on the quill. Almost to the point of gouging. Its a chrome plated and ground quill as near as I can tell, and not stingy on the chrome either. Its toast.

The Z has always had lower speed and acceleration before faulting than the other two axis (which doesn't make sense since its lighter), so its had problems since I got it. Its just gotten worse since I really started working it hard lately. I just assumed because it was getting oil when I fired it up that it was fine. Oops.

I would like to have it as a heavy mill for when I need to make big heavy and steel parts, but the simple fact is it will cost more to fix than I want to spend on it. I will be converting it over to a high speed only machine over the next couple days. I have a 2.2Kw spindle on hand that was slated for the Z^2 high speed axis on this machine anyway. Now it will be the primary spindle.

I suppose I'll be looking at a heavy hobby mill in my future for the work I would have done on this machine. Most of the heavy hobbies are bed mills rather than knee mills anyway. I always knew this was a possibility with a 30 year old used driven quill knee mill. Still, its made enough parts to pay for itself and then some already. In fact it was paid for with parts made on my baby Taig. LOL.

To add insult to injury... In order to get the quill and spindle all the way out I have to remove my splash enclosure.