Loose Air Cylinder

[nat_wheatley]

I've notice that the bodies of the air cylinders that plunge my drills are able to be turned/rotated freely. Is this normal? I haven't noticed it before for some reason.

There are 2 nuts at the base of the cylinder, both of which seem to be snug. The upper one (larger of the 2) looks to hold the cylinder to the mounting bracket. The lower one looks to attach the cylinder to the air slide below. The lower nut was pretty loose, I tightened it and the cylinder is still able to be rotated freely.

Normal?

[Brady Watson]

Nat,
These usually don't spin, and the larger nut is supposed to lock it into place. I'd see if you could get it a little tighter without hurting it, and get it to lock in tighter to the L bracket. If you run out of thread etc, I would put a flat washer in there and tighten again so it doesn't turn. It could have been loose for some time & the threads are worn in that spot from flopping around inside the 90 deg bracket hole. By spacing it with a flat washer, you'll be on new threads.

-B

[nat_wheatley]

Thanks Brady. I tried to tighten the large nut by holding thing the air cylinder with my had, to keep it for spinning, and putting a wrench on the nut. Going this route, it seemed like the nut was tightened as much as it would go. I'll try backing it off a whisker and the tightening it, and see where that gets me.

I like the idea of inserting the washers and will likely be doing that to cure this. Odd that it's happened on both drills...

[Brady Watson]

It's the hoses that could get twisted or rub a hole into themselves that would concern me. Aside from this, as long as the bracket holds the cyl, then no problem.

-B

[nat_wheatley]

Fairly sure they just move when I try to turn them manually, but I will try to snug them up just the same.

Thanks again for the help

[nat_wheatley]

Fixed. I backed the large nut off of each cylinder and blasted some compressed air and WD-40 on the threads of the cylinder. After that, I was able to crank down (up) each nut enough to secure the cylinders.

I also took each of the drills off the machine and gave them a decent cleaning. There was a lot of oil/chip buildup on the drills and inside the drill cage. Cleaned the slides etc.