Ticking Sound From PM3520B

[Laurence Giglio]

The past week I have noticed an on again off again ticking sound on my one year old PM3520B lathe. At first I attributed it to the fact that I had just taken apart my stronghold chuck to clean it and thought the chuck spindle collar was loose. Nope, it was OK. Then I thought it was the chuck not being on tight, as when I would nudge the chuck a scoosh on the lathe the sound would go away but then reappear after a few minutes of turning. Its been doing this on and off. Today it did it when I started it up and thinking it was still the chuck I switched out chuck bodies and jaws but it didnt do anything except delay it only to have it reappear. To rule out chcucks, I put on the heavy 6 inch faceplate and heard it again. So it appears to be from the spindle end area. Is it the bearing? I checked the set screws on the spindles inside the headstock, they are all tight, there doesnt seem to be any play, the bearings dont seem to be warm. Its just this clicking sound.

Looking online does not appear to offer any fixes. Any ideas on what is the cause, or else do I need to think about the bearing? Is it perhaps the end play collar on the motor end of the spindle shaft? Belt tension appear to be just a bit more than motor weight, its not overtight. Once again I am clueless.

 

[john lucas]

Odds are really good that its the setscrew In the locking collar. I've experienced one other knocking sound on a powermatic at a demo one time and can't remember exactly what it was but it was also in he spindle lock area. So my suggestion is to look over that area very carefully a d you will probably ding the problem

 

[Laurence Giglio]

One thing I have noticed is that it only makes the sound when the spindle is loaded, in other words, when either a chuck or a faceplate is on it. It will NOT make the sound just with the naked spindle. I will take another look at the set screws, i tried to tighten them, they didnt budge, but I will look one more time.

Another thing, in looking at one of the two set screws on the far right hand side of the spindle inside the headstock is what appears to be the key . Is the key supposed to be visible, sticking out to the right of the spindle? I assume so, but maybe that is the problem, maybe its making contact as it goes round and round.

 

[Bill Boehme]

It doesn't sound like a bearing problem to me. If you want to really check the bearings, then remove the belt and slowly turn the handwheel as you carefully listen for any noise from the bearings. The sound (ticking, clicking, scraping, rumble, etc.) will typically be very faint so a very quiet shop and good hearing are essential. If you do not hear anything, next try the motor shaft to see if the motor bearings are making any noise.

Check the shaft key to see if it is tight -- generally they are.

 

[Laurence Giglio]

What I did late last night (this cancer crap makes you at times avoid sleep) was to pull the belt to one side and run the motor. Silent as the sound of falling snow. So that tells me its not the motor bearings.

I reattached the belt, just let the motor weight tighten the belt and ran it forward. Ticking sound with no load. The ticking sound appears to be a tad louder. When I run it in reverse, NO SOUND.

I try again to first loosen and then tighten the two set screws on the spindle sheeve, they arent budging in either direction; loosen or tighten. I dont want to break the T wrench, but they are pretty tight and the spindle sheeve does not appear to be loose at all. When I just spin the sheeve by hand, with the belt off to one side and not connected to the motor sheeve, the sound is there, lke something is making contact as the sheeve goes round and round. I will use some inspection mirrors to see if I can see something on the backside or below the sheeve pulley.

If I run it at lets say 1000 rpm, it doesnt sound very loud at all. Slower speed makes more sound. I let it run for 5 minutes at 900 rpm, felt the bearing housing on the outside of the headstock, no warmth whatsoever. I cant detect any thrust play left to right. The arbor appears to run true, there isnt wobble in the spindle. I reattached the chuck and the ticking stopped just like before. After several minutes the sound returned just like before.

I will call walter meier tomorrow see if they have any ideas. Since my time on the lathe is narrowing down, if nothing gets worse, and walter meier cant offer any help, I will tell my son about it, let it become his problem.

 

[john lucas]

I have an A series and will be home around 3 so I can look at mine to see if I have any answers. Could it be something with your indexing. Myasthenia doesn't have that so can't check that area

 

[Fred Belknap]

I have seen others post about a noise from the spindle area of the 3520B and the usual cause seems to be a loose set screw in the RPM pickup module. It seems to be an easy fix. Wish I could be more specific but it is something to check out.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

I have had the same problem a few times (The only problem I have had I must say with this machine) The first time it happened I called tech support at the closest maintenance center to my location and the tech walked me through tightening the allen wrench set screw on the collar of the main shaft right behind the locking button on the head stock. When ever you hear that ticking sound be assured it is most likely the set screw needs a turn and then it will purr like a kitten again.
My best advice is the first time get a tech to walk you through it but if thats not necessary just remove the locking buttons two screws and just slide the button out and then open the main door to the belt use a flash light to shine light in to the main shaft almost behind the stop button hole. The shaft that has the hand wheel is the one where the loose collar is on mine each time it has happened. I insert a long allen wrench ( about a 4"long one)
into the collar set screw (through the lock button hole) and tighten it.
The reason I suggested calling a tech is that if this problem has persisted for quite a while the collar make need bumping back toward the hand wheel some. Good luck once you have done this it only takes a few minutes to do. It must be a some what common problem because some say they have tried lock tight on it to keep it stationary.

 

[hockenbery]

As has been said it is likely something with the Belt, pulleys, or spindle shaft.

Might be an issue with one of the pulleys. Alignment or not tight on the shaft.
Could loosen and retighten the set screws that hold the pulley in place.

Spindle lock not fully retracted, index pin( on lathes that have them)

 

[Laurence Giglio]

Breck, after messing some more with it I will call them Monday. It should be an easy problem.

What I did notice is that when with my right hand I am screwing on the stronghold chuck, and with my left hand holding the spindle shaft tight to keep it from rotating while i screw on he chuck is about 2 or 3 clicking sounds PER revolution of the chuck. I dont know why it makes hat sound the shaft is kept from rotating and the chuck is just spinning o. Bu in one revolution of he chuck i makes 3 click sounds. But I will call them before I do anything other than just opening the belt changing door.

 

[John Beaver]

This is most likely caused by the sensor on the tachometer. It's a little tight to get to, but if you look behind the speed readout you will see a four sided piece attached to the spindle that sends the spindle speed to the sensor. This pickup is notorious for hitting the senso and causing a ticking. Remove the four screws that hold the readout, pull it out and you can adjust the sensor. You can also tighten the piece on the sensor while the box is removed.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

Breck, after messing some more with it I will call them Monday. It should be an easy problem.

What I did notice is that when with my right hand I am screwing on the stronghold chuck, and with my left hand holding the spindle shaft tight to keep it from rotating while i screw on he chuck is about 2 or 3 clicking sounds PER revolution of the chuck. I dont know why it makes hat sound the shaft is kept from rotating and the chuck is just spinning o. Bu in one revolution of he chuck i makes 3 click sounds. But I will call them before I do anything other than just opening the belt changing door.

Laurence the only other source of clicking I have heard is from my chucks by times also. For some reason the casing around each of the openings for the chuck key to fit into seem to have some movement after using a chuck for a while. The clicking I get is from the tiny movement from each chuck key insert casing.( The chucks work perfectly they just make a slight clicking sound by times) A couple of times I have thought that was all it was and was fooled into not retightening the set screw for a little while. Other times it was only the chuck. Those are the only two sources of clicking sounds I have ever had while using my PM 3520b I have had mine for a year and have turned 100's of bowls in that time.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Breck, after messing some more with it I will call them Monday. It should be an easy problem.

What I did notice is that when with my right hand I am screwing on the stronghold chuck, and with my left hand holding the spindle shaft tight to keep it from rotating while i screw on he chuck is about 2 or 3 clicking sounds PER revolution of the chuck. I dont know why it makes hat sound the shaft is kept from rotating and the chuck is just spinning o. Bu in one revolution of he chuck i makes 3 click sounds. But I will call them before I do anything other than just opening the belt changing door.

Lawrence, the inner jaws on the chuck have some free play with the scroll gear so if the outer jaws are not are not tightened down on a tenon or against each other it is very common to hear them ticking as the chuck rotates. A similar thing can be heard if you happen to have a warped tenon and one of the jaws isn't making firm contact against the wood. This is a common thing on Talon and Stronghold chucks. I don't know about other brands.

Once the speed gets high enough, centrifugal force will keep the slack jaws from rattling as much as when the speed is slow.

Repeat what you did except first tighten the jaws down against each other so that they won't be rattling around and then see if you hear the noise.

BTW, when you had the belt off, did you turn the spindle by hand to see if there was any noise? The best way to check for bearing noise is by rotating things slowly by hand -- not while running with power applied. Running the motor just adds too many things that can make sorting out the source of noise all that more difficult.

 

[Laurence Giglio]

Problem Fixed!

As others said, its a simple fix.

Called the tech people at Powermatic, and based on the speed of the fix, its a common problem.

The problem is from two set screws that loosen the spindle lock collar. But the problem is seeing it and getting to them. They have you remove the spindle lock tab, remove the spindle lock. Then if you cant see the two set screws, you then remove the digital readout panel and gently lay it down when the 4 screws are removed. Now you can see the set screws. First tighten the setscrew that is over the key. Then tighten the other one opposite the first one. thats it. Replace the digital panel, replace the spindle lock, the cover and away you go. No more ticking.

 

[john lucas]

I was pretty sure that's what it was. I've seen it on two other lathes that I demoed on. I just looked at my spindle lock collar and it has a slight rounded dent where the detents are. Probably from 10 years of use. Still looks like it would hold up for a while though.

 

[Bill Boehme]

As others said, its a simple fix.

Called the tech people at Powermatic, and based on the speed of the fix, its a common problem.

The problem is from two set screws that loosen the spindle lock collar. But the problem is seeing it and getting to them. They have you remove the spindle lock tab, remove the spindle lock. Then if you cant see the two set screws, you then remove the digital readout panel and gently lay it down when the 4 screws are removed. Now you can see the set screws. First tighten the setscrew that is over the key. Then tighten the other one opposite the first one. thats it. Replace the digital panel, replace the spindle lock, the cover and away you go. No more ticking.

Wonderful. It's always a great relief when a potential disaster turns out to be an easy fix.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

Glad it was what we thought it was and an easy fix, I am able to tighten mine through the spindle lock hole but now that you mention it the first time I did have to remove the other cover.

 

[Laurence Giglio]

That learning curve, now that I know where it is, I will be able to just ope the spindle lock and get er done.

I am sure that the problem is the number of times i have engaged the spindle lock for bowl work. I dont do spindle work, so all my bowls have several times per bowl where i am tightening and loosening the chucks. I guess thats what causes the set screws to loosen.

 

[Bart Leetch]

Blue Loctite?