Some pics of the problem would be helpful.

To clarify, is it the cross-feed when facing a job that is the problem? If so, you may have broken a tooth off a gear in the drive train. Or you may have bent the feed screw. Dismantle and careful inspection would be next step.

Do make sure the feed settings on the gearbox have not been moved to a coarse setting first.

As you’re in Devon and a charity it could be worth giving Axminster a call – certainly they used to have some in-house engineering expertise.

And they have a community forum:

https://community.axminstertools.com/

One thing you can do to help avoid a repeat problem is drill a large hole up the middle of the so-called shear pin to weaken it. Hopefully then it will shear before other parts are damaged next time.

Many so-called shear pins are really just drive pins used to lock one rotating part to another. They may or may not be the weakest link in the drive train, as the OP seems to have found out.

Sometimes the pin is made of brass as an actual shear pin that is deliberately weaker than other steel parts . But often not.

When I had a crash (Watching the cut, not where the saddle was going) the shear pins were rollpins (!), so did not shear, but the shaft with integral pinion meshing with the rack was bent.

So made a new shaft and cut a new gear (That was when I found errors in the division chart for my HV6!), and had to make a spacer to place the shaft and gear in the correct position.

Resetting the position of the worm housing on the Saddle, in position, was nightmare. Needed an Allen key with a very short leg, and of course, could not see where I was working, given the minimal clearance between lathe bed and Saddle.

Something has coarsened the your feed, so look out for bent shafts, or gears with one or more teeth missing.

Knowing the model, and looking at the exploded diagrams, will be helpful.

Hope that it is easily and cheaply repairable

Howard

Byron, Can you let us know the model number of the lathe; it makes a difference whether it has just a leadscrew along the front or 3 rods (two plus leadscrew). The pattern looks about 1/8 spacing but you need to measure it accurately over several cycles and compare that to the pitch of the rack. Also what were the settings for the feed when you made this part.
It may be that the rack has been pushed up so the meshing is poor. Try getting a bit of paper in between the gear and rack and if so whether more layer will fit. This will indicate how poor a fit it is.

You could also do a longer test piece, like 4 inch, with just one light cut to show if it has a pattern. If the feed gear shaft is bent as mentioned by Sillyoldduffer above you will see a pattern corresponding to one turn of the gear – about 15 to 20 rack teeth.

If you can get over to St Katherine’s on an open day (first Sunday of the month) the guys at 73A can introduce you to EDMES experts.

An Axminster lathe will probably have been made by SEIG; a WARCO by a different manufacturer, so is likely to be different, in dimensions, if not construction.

All that we know is that you have an Axmister lathe with a problem, probably in the drive to the saddle.

The picture does not show a “brass” component with a problem with the facing feed, but with the sliding drive; along the bed. A crash when facing, may well have damaged the drive to the saddle rather than to the Cross Feed.

A power Cross Feed suggests one of the more sophisticated models. If you want help, you must give as much detail as possible.

The problem MIGHT be caused by by a feed rate that varies because of a bent shaft.

Knowing the Model Number will make life easier, since the parts list / diagrams in the Operator Manual will show how the Saddle is driven along the lathe bed, rather than relying on guesswork.

Even if you do not have the operator manual with this information, some one else may have, and will be able to provide the detailed information that is required to address your problem.

Once you have the information, only then can you start to strip the machine in investigate the cause of the problem.

It may be possible to press a bent shaft, between Vee blocks, until it is straight; but this might well require lots of care and iterations to get it within 0.0005″ (0.0125 mm) T I R.

Possibly, the quickest , and easiest for you, will be be buy and fit new parts; once you have found where the damage is.

Afterwards, it will be worth making a shearpin to, replace what is probably a rollpin in the drive to the feedshaft (if it has one) or the leadscrew (Which night drive the Saddle traverse pinion via a key way in the Leadscrew). Make it from brass, (Mine are 5 mm dia with a 2.5 mm hole drilled down the centre, and they are probably a little too strong)

Consulting the parts list / diagram will probably simplify working out what the problem is, and how to cure it.

Howard

Jason is correct, they did sell lathes called JET,very similar to the Warco ones.