3 YEARS LATER:

Having muddled along with this for a long while I never quite cured the slow belt coming off. Finally I decided to both replace the lathe;s headstock spindle (It had been faulty when maade) and have now made a tyre for each jockey wheel from a thick walled alloy tube. A bit difficult to do but managed to use the lathe with one pulley direct to the headstock spindle. IT WORKS! I had to decide whether to use concave tyres or convex ones. (Anyone with flat belt experience will know that the pulleys are slightly convex, but discretion won out and i made the tyres concave, and a bit wider.

I would add pictures but cannot see how to do this.

Nick E,

Has anyone found a way to improve the back gear key, which is so fiddly to get in and out..might be the reason your tooth broke?

CNC ROUTER MILLING Air-Cooled 0.4KW Spindle Motor & PWM Speed Controller & Mount

Look for this on ebay. Nick

I have purchased a chinese spindle motor, with variable speed, which can be mounted as a toolpost miller, gear cutter etc.'The unit looks fine but comes with a #n ER11-A collet which is for a rather too small 1/8" shaft.

This collet holder is mounted on the motor shaft, which is 1/4" and looks as if it is held on by 2 grub screws.

However If I slacken off or remove these screws It will not budge, even with a puller. If it is threaded, which I doubt, there is no way to hold the shaft to undo it.

I was hoping to buy a similar holder for an ER 20 collet, so I can use it with Thornton cutters, for cutting wheels for clocks.

Does anyone know how to remove this collet holder please? Your comments woild be most gratefully received!

N,Ellis

Hello again

Just to let you know, if it helps others with a similar problem, I have stretched all the belts using a board to the exact same length. I have taken off the bracket at the back (39 on the Myford diagram) and drilled and tapped it 1/4BSF and fitted a bolt.

I can now fix the back of the trileva unit in any position.

I put it all together and , after some tension adjustment it works. There is still some interference between the LHS jockey and the middle one, and I am tempted to fit a spacer....on the other hand I am tempted to leave well alone! Thanks for all your help. Nick E

Thanks again. I might try to fit a couple of collars either side of the P bracket, but I wonder if it is intended to float sideways as the only fixing is the front nut?

I have found the snagging of the jockeys is cured if the spindle for the fingers is set back to the left a bit; the 2 highter speeds now work silently and the belts are fairly slack.

Many thanks again for your helpful comments. If I find a revolutionary solution I will let you know!

Yours

Nick

Hello Daveb: Very many thanks for your posting; I have the type of Trileva with no adjustment to the lever spindle, which is in the correct position.

As I mentioned before I have tried several different belt spacings and positions of the housing on the headstock, all to no avail. I think it is the belt moving off the jockey, rather than vice-versa...hard to be sure though.

The system worked OK before I changed the belts, for about a year, so I must have done something when I did that. I should have numbered the belts, as perhaps I have re-installed them in a different order. I will try changing them round and also to get the new ones exactly the same length by devising a stretching mechanism. (so that if I decide to use these I know they are all equal). I have levelled the housing support to be level with the bed of the lathe.

The other problem is that the jockey wheels foul their neighbours, particularly the LHS one. (They always have to some extent, which is why I wanted to change the belts, to see if it made any difference).

I am presently experimenting with spacers!. I find that if the belts are too slack (giving a good wrap-around) the slow one is squeezed between the jockey wheel and the headstock pulley; increasing the belt tension cures this, but the jockey immediately runs off. The higher the belt tension the further out I have to put the adjuster screws; the further out the adjuster screws the more interference I get between the jockey wheels, clashing when engaging and making a noise with their neighbours when engaged.( I am careful to be sure their slots are still engaged with the jockey wheel carriers). My experiments with spacers help this, but perhaps not the other problem. I only get the run-off with the slow speed.

Wish you were here, as they say, but I am near Darlington and I think you are in the home counties??

I have found a contact in a local ME club, who used to have one, so perhaps between us we can solve it.

Many thanks again

Yours

Nick

.Daveb: Very many thanks for your two repliesi

Frstly I do not think I have a countershaft tension lever..just the two screws with locknuts.

I have tried the belts slack, so that there is more wraparound, but almost as soon as the jockey wheel touches the belt it slips off to one side or another.I have tried various belt tensions.

The other problem is that the little idler wheels touch the jockey wheels when using the two lower speeds, which I think they should not do. Presumably this is if there is too much belt tension and the adjuster screws are almost fully retracted. It seems very difficult to get them set sufficiently far forward to clear the jockeys when pulling the levers.I have put the old belts back again, as they worked before, but not very well. Same problem.

I had wondered if the new ones were made of a more flexible material, so would not stay on the jockeys.

I have started to think I should add a flange to the jockeys to stop the belts from jumping off, but that would alter the whole geometry of the thing, so probably a mistake!

I have had a Myford Trileva for about a year and have just decided to replace the motor with a proper Myford single speed one, which I had in stock, and whilst I was at it decided to replace the belts.

On re-assembly I cannot get the slow speed jockey pulley to track the belt correctly, and the belt keeps coming off. If I tighten the belts there is too much force on the lever. I have checked the pulley alignment. Also the mechanism seems to interfere with the other pulleys..that is Slow and Medium levers seem to touch the jockey pulleys to their left (See Photo).sorry, cannot work this.

Is there anyone out there who has any experience setting this up..I must have altered something vital, as it worked before.

Many thanks Nick Ellis