1. Home
  2. ⏣ General Metalworking
  3. Adjusting lathe clutch - is there a primer?

Adjusting lathe clutch - is there a primer?

Thanks for the recent help on cleaning clutch plates. I have now cleaned out all the old oil, gunge from the sump, etc, and refilled with new oil. I have adjusted the selector so it clicks into foward, reverse, and neutral. reverse is fine, it engages and disengages correctly, but forward engages, but when it is moved to the disengage position, the lathe doesn't stop turning. I have checked that the selector is in the neutral position. If I turn off the motor and then back on again, it will usually not start turning. (as it should)

The lathe is a Gornati Leopard, and has 2 clutches on the shaft driven by the motor. These look like about 10 or so disks that get compressed when the selector is pushed towards them. There seems to be an adjusting ring on the side closest to the selector that could be adjusted with a pin wrench. I haven't seen if there is a locking ring or screw to stop movement after adjustment.

It would seem that I should be loosening off this ring a touch. Is this something I can safely do, or am I likely to be opening up a can of worms?

Any help would be appreciated.

Reply to
Nick Alexander
Loading thread data ...

Nick I'm going to speak in some general terms here as I'm not familiar with your specific clutch, but multi plate clutches have some common features. When cleaning this lathe up did you disassemble the clutch and clean it? I suspect not and there may be some resistance to motion there. The plates of the clutch are splined to the output shaft and must slide linearly so that disengagement can happen. If this lathe has been setting then you may also have just some stickiness to the plates. With out power applied and the machine in neutral can you feel much drag in the clutch? Is it sticky? Clean if necessary.

As far as adjusting the clutch the I suspect that your clutch should have an overcamming arms that lock in the clutch and the adjusting ring determines the pressure exerted on the stack when engaged. You should not have problems trying to loosen this up or tighten it. If to tight then the engagement lever will not 'click' into position. If to loose then it will not 'click' in.

I'm thinking that this clutch will have pivot pins on the engagement arms that if removed will allow everything to slip off of the shaft and be inspected. Check the shaft and see if it has worn ridges in the splines that do not allow the clutch plates to slide easily on the shaft. Repair and clean as necessary. lg no neat sig line

Reply to
larry g

Thanks for the info Larry. I have removed the clutch shaft, and there is certainly more friction on the forward than the reverse clutch, so it may be as simple as cleaning it thoroughly. I will give that a try next.

Reply to
Nick Alexander

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.