[TomB]

I've had my TriPower apart for quite a while and I'm now putting it back together. I've perhaps forgot a detail and my parts book does not include the figure that describes the table parts. (When I got the machine I noticed the figure was missing from the book and asked JT for the page. He said it had been lost quite a while and he had no master to copy.) Just to describe the parts there is a bevel gear that rides on the grooved shaft, call it the driver gear. Then there is a bevel gear that rides on the table lead screw, call it the driven pinion. The driver gear is trapped between two bosses on a casting that pins and bolts to the lower table casting.

What I noticed is that the driver gear is loose between the two retaining bosses. I can slip a .025" feeler gauge between the side of the gear and the retaining boss. Obviously that gap would contribute significantly to table in/out backlash.

Is that a normal gap or was there some shim washers that I have forgotten/lost or perhaps never got? Would it make sense to cut some shim washers to take up that gap?

Tom

[TomB]

I am surprised that no one has offered an answer to this question. Perhaps its because I did not describe it well. The pictures make make the question clearer.

One picture shows the machine from far enough away to orient the viewer while the other shows a closeup and illustrates with the feeler gauge stuck in the gap.

Tom

[fastlanecafe]

My machine has very little lash- about 0.002" on that gear, there is a shim on each side. I suspect you have misplaced the 2 shims that were there- They probably have a bunch of shims of varying thickness at the factory that they use to set the lash during assembly.