Bridgeport Quill Spring

Is it coming unsnapped inside, or are you finding it difficult to maintain a grip on the housing while trying to tension it? If the latter, I made up a simple delrin disk with a roll pin to catch one of the two holes, and a hole 180 degrees away large enough to pass the other screw. Filed some serrations around the edge, and have had no troubles tensioning springs with it.

If it's coming undone inside, I suspect whichever end is coming loose is shaped such that it's not holding itself firmly against the barb that is supposed to secure it. The jostling of getting things in the housing might permit it to work loose enough that a little tensions pulls it off. If so, you'll need to try bending the offending end so that it stays tight against the shaft or housing.

Jon

This is not unusual. You may have to renew or rework the offending pin. The inner end of the spring has to be curled fairly closely to hold good and the outer pin tends to get pushed into the housing too far. Your spring may not be hooked on the outer pin as this will allow the spring to slide around when it is tightened a little. Do not try to tighten the spring until it retracts the quill. It is intended only to keep it from falling and may not do that if you have a heavy tool in the spindle.

Don Young

Don Young

--No

--Hmmm

--Is the 'barb' not the keyway on the shaft?

"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Do us a favor and rescue Hacking the Trailing Edge! : a doggie or three...

Well, been a while since I had one apart and I really wasn't sure the best terminology to describe things. If it's the one on the shaft, yes, I think you could describe it as a key. But it's supposed to have an undercut, what I called a 'barb'. You want to make sure the spring is down tight on the shaft so that it stays caught on the undercut. Might try winding the spring up a bit while looking at it, maybe you can see exactly why it's coming off.

Jon

It's been a while since I've been into one as well, but the best way I can describe the image of the barb in my head is that it looks like a tooth on a very coarse wood rasp.

As others said check the anchor points. Been awhile since I replaced my Next I lowered the quill till the rack disengaged from the gear (after removing the stop screw) then using the quill lever to wind the spring. Does that make sense?

MikeB

Whoops, hit send while still editing, sorry for double posting!

As others said check the anchor points. Been awhile since I replaced my clockspring but I remember I installed the spring & reassembled the spring cover, then lowered the quill till the rack disengaged from the gear (after removing the stop screw) then used the quill lever to wind the spring. It was trial-and-error getting the tension set till the quill just stayed up, but did not take long & has been ok for several years so far. I hope that make sense?

MikeB

Don Young presented the following explanation :

I thought my quill was mis-adjusted since it didn't retract. It never bothered me enough and figured I'd get to it one day. Now I know it's working properly and I don't have to do anything with it.

Thanks, Wayne D.

From what I have read in various groups and forums that is a very common misconception. That is why I mentioned it. That is also probably one of the reasons so many of the springs break, since they can reach the limit of their travel when over-tightened.

Don Young

The spring does not hook into the keyway. There is a small hooked pin that catches in a hole near the end of the spring. The pin is pretty short and the spring has to bend pretty closely around the shaft for it to catch and hold.

Don Young