The ram wouldn't retract more than about halfway.
I took it all apart, looked for debris saw essentially none but cleaned anyway, stoned the edges of the keyway, it still started to stick about halfway.
I was sure I hadn't bent it or anything...
The chuck taper was still in the ram, good and tight; popped that out and no stick.
Last drilling job was pushing a Forstner bit through plastic pipe to make it a little bit bigger ID. I guess it got hot, the ram grew, the taper went in more.
Look for galling along the quill OD where the lock mechanism comes into = contact with it and stone again.....install and test fit...any raised = areas will present as shiny in appearance rather than dull...repeat if = needed.
'Makes no sense. How would the ram get that hot from a chucked-up bit on the end of an arbor?
I had a similar problem that got worse and worse on my ShopFox 14x40.
It turns out, they must've bored the ram bore in the cheeze-metal casting before they did the other machining, or maybe before the casting aged enough to stop changing shape. Hell, they might even have bored with a dull tool, and gotten the work too hot.
But in any case, the bore wasn't straight, and the ram was. I carefully reamed it about 1/2 a tenth, and it moves OK now, and tracks -- eh... OK.
I'll probably sleeve it at some point, if the walk in the tip (while extended) becomes an annoyance.
LLoyd
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