Denford Software & Machines

Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself, as the new owner of a 280VS. Bought from the very nice chap Pete, who i see has already posted a fair bit about this machine.

I've found myself the manual, headstock, tailstock & electrical drawings on here, do we have the gearbox and carriage drawings anywhere?

Does anyone know if the headstock shaft has an internal cone for fitting a collet chuck?

And finally (for now) does anyone know what fixes a dragging thread cutting shaft (i.e. it rotates when it should be disengaged)

Cheers,
Paul

Hello, and welcome.
The gearbox and apron are both similar to the TDS 1 LS, there are drawings of these somewhere on the site.
From memory, I think the spindle has a No 4 morse taper, In my opinion you would do better to use a D1-3 collet adaptor.
Not sure about the dragging leadscrew at the moment, I will have to stir my memory as it is quite a while since I had my gearbox apart.

John

The dragging screw could possibly be sorted by adding a washer inboard of the tailstock-end support block between the thrust washer and the screw shoulder. You could even just try loosening the screw that holds the block and tapping it gently towards the headstock. That tails-stock block is what sets the position of the screw, and thus the position of the gear on the gearbox end.

I think that Denford could have done a much better job with this gearbox with regards mounting and servicing it. You can't set the gear engagement without removing the front plate but you need to plate in place to set the engagement. You can't easily remove the lead- and feed-screws without removing the gearbox from the bed and to remove the gearbox you have to remove/dismantle the headstock AND un-bolt the cabinet off the base to get at that bolt in the headstock pedestal because the two bolts that hold it on are in such awkward positions.

I wish I had took a photo of the box from the rear when it was off the bed it would have shown the arrangement quite nicely. There's no angle from the front to get a photo that shows the leadscrew shaft gear.

Magic, yes a tweak of the tailstock end support solved that, thanks.