OK. It took 2.5 weeks to get the part back for the mill after I sent the part to sherline to be fixed. (I overnighted the parts to them hoping for quicker. In any case, Sherline folk were very polite with customer service so I didn't complain.)
The day I got the part back, I put on a flycutter in order to level out some aluminum.
Long story short, the flycutter is stuck in the spindle and no matter how hard I bang, I cannot get it out!
That Sherline spindle is practically toast with all my hammering and banging. The bolt has no more thread, etc. Nobody is going to believe I didn't overtighten the flycutter given how badly I have destroyed the spindle trying to remove it. I can already see the "yeah right" reactions.
Just trust me that I didn't attach the fly cutter hard to the spindle :-( I heed all the warnings to be careful and not overtighten on the Sherline mill. I read the tabletop machining book and know that "I am stronger than the mill." Now I am outright paranoid about overtightening. I am not, however, paranoid about taking my frustrations out on the spindle when the stinking flycutter gets stuck.
I decided to move to the lathe (basically to make a part to fix the mill by providing a dowel to bang on) and the table for the X-axis on the lathe stopped moving! I hoped it was as simple a fix as the handwheel not turning the slide screw, but it appears to be more than that. I now have to take apart the thing to figure out what happened. The "slide screw" simply doesn't move the table. I think there is a problem with a part known as the "slide screw insert."
My initial euphoria at getting the Sherline mill and lathe is quickly diminishing.
I feel like Han Solo swearing at everyone in the falcon that "It isn't me!" I didn't do anything. I certainly didn't break some unseen part inside the cross-table on the lathe. I didn't break the hold-down bolt on the mill. I swear I didn't over-tighten the fly-cutter, but with all the banging I have performed on the spindle, I can't send that back to Sherline for repairs. They are sure to raise an eyebrow or two.
I have a small suspician that the superglue from the paper rpm gauge may have gotten hot enough from the adjoining motor to liquify and seep down the inside of the spindle to the flycutter, so I will not swear that the fly-cutter problem is not something I started, but I am suspicious. Why, for instance, didn't the bolt become glued? That seems like a "long-shot" event to have occurred. I barely put superglue on the paper. In any case, I am switching the spindle from the lathe to the mill. It is better to have the lathe out of commission than the mill.
Instead of using the Sherline warrantly which takes forever, I will simply order new parts, including the spindle and a new flycutter and a new pulley. I need the stuff too soon to be waiting so long on Sherline warranty repair, and frankly I don't feel like explaining myself.
Also, I am changing my end date to the end of July for the 3D Printhead. There is no way now that I can make June.
Disappointed,
Fowler