The vertical gib on this machine appears tapered along its length. There are no screws along its run to adjust the friction as you might expect, just a cut out at the lower, thicker end which locates on the head of a screw. Tightening the screw pushes the tapered gib into position until all play is eliminated.

Whatever is stopping the movement of the machine is solid, like two gears coming together but out of mesh. The fact it does this consistantly at 4" from full down must be significant to anyone who has had one of these machines apart before I would think? I have my fingers crossed that such a person responds to this post!

But thank you all very much for your comments which are all useful when you are out of ideas of your own! And yes, I an still persevering with the 5" Raglan, which continues to surprise me with its capability. A fine machine.

I can see what you mean about the tendency of a taper gib to wedge, but this machine definitely only has a screw at one end – the bottom end. Also, the saddle stops with a clunk at its limit of travel.

I am at the point of dismantling the machine, to get the saddle off and see what the problem is. Unfortunately I cannnot get the vertical gib out without being able to move the saddle to the top of its travel – which it clearly won't do. So I'm currently stuck. The only thing I can actually do is to try and get the cross slide off to see if that reveals anything of use? Watch this space.

I have yet to discover anything like a nut and screw arrangement as you describe. I suspect any nut on the vertical screw must be within the saddle, so would need to remove that to find out? This is my first shot at dismantling a milling machine so I don't have much experience of other machines to compare. Sadly haven't worked out how to post photos on this forum either – but there is another thread I found on Alexander milling machines posted by Mark Smith of a beautiful restoration job he has done on an identical machine that will show you what it looks like. !

I have just uploaded several photos of milling machine being stripped to its carriage in an album called Alexander miller. The last photo shows it stripped down to only its carriage still attached. I need to know how to get the carriage off in order to address the problem of why it is jammed.

Absolutely wonderful! Thank you very much for posting this lot – I recognise nearly all of it! The only difference I have seen between my machine and this is that the rear carrier of the y axis leadscrew has just got two allen screws holding it in. Otherwise the same.

My problem remains my inability to get the carriage to move upwards more than 4 inches. I notice in your snaps the bottom screw carrier on the vertical spindle is still attached to the machine when the carriage is removed – you have simply wound out the vertical screw to free the carriage. I'm wondering if I could remove this bottom screw carrier with the carriage still in place? This would free the carriage – but that bottom screw carrrier is bolted and pinned in place? Is there enough rocking movement in the carriage with gib strip loose to allow those pins to clear? Otherwise I am at a loss to understand how I can get the carriage off to repair whatever has gone wrong?

Thanks again for the wonderful post!

I have added a couple of pics to my collection. The first shows that the key is firmly in place in the vertical power feed shaft and bevel gear. The second pic shows that I have got the horizontral drive unit rocking having removed the gib strip, and the leadscrew bracket at the back, but it still feels like some way from coming off?

As to the basic problem of the jammed drive – I think I have one option remaining to me. If I understand correctly, the only thing that stops the carriage sliding up and off the machine is the nut in the bottom bracket at the front of the machine? There are two capscrews into the side of this bottom bracket which I suspect hold the nut in place? If that is the case I could release those capscrews and the carriage would slide up, complete with nut – if it wasn't for the motor feed bevel gear that would get in the way? So I would first need to figure out a way of removing this motor drive gear, which I suspect was never intended with the shafts still in place.?

I appreciate that this may sound rather radical , but unless I can get the carriage off – then it can't be repaired – and the machine simply becomes a source of spare parts!

Desperate times!