Straightening a lathe feed rod

[petertha]

I can sympathize with your bent power feed shaft. I documented my rebuild which included sending my rod to Keith Fenner for straightening. Within my post is a YouTube link where Keith is doing (my shaft) it with a combination of press bending & his heat/cool method. Best money I have ever spent IMO, he is a pro & real great guy. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thre...7/#post-540705

But as I mentioned in the post, now with a perfectly straight feed rod in hand, I wasn't done yet. It only eliminated one problem but highlighted other issues. So I disagree with post#9 presuming the 'lugs' will keep the shaft in line & all will be well presuming your in-lathe straightening works out. It might work out that way but also it might not. If the feed rod got bent from a bad choice of where lifting straps were positioned (very common unfortunately) then the other driveline components may be OK. But if you experienced a degradation in power feed & clutch complaining as I did, the bent shaft may be the after effect, not the root cause. If you get to the bottom of my post you will see the new bearing blocks & bronze bushing I made.

I have come to the personal conclusion that the worm gear block on this particular type of machine is not a great design & the lathe kind of ran despite itself. Basically power can mask many misalignments & friction sources... until something eventually gives way. This may not be your exact situation, but hopefully it will trigger a deeper investigation. Depending on the vintage of your lathe, good luck getting a replacement worm & pinion gears, so proceed cautiously. Similarly, you likely have a metric shaft. Yes you could get probably get an IMP shaft, but not with a metric keyway to fit the gear and/or sliding fit on gear ID. So if you botch the shaft or make it worse, you may be in for some down time.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out. I'm interested.