Jon, I don't know much about tapping heads, but I can tell you never
underestimate how much water cork can hold. We dissasembled a 70 year old
walk in cooler one spring and left it sit in our lot. All summer long water
ran out of it. We hauled it to the landfill that fall. By letting as much
water as possible drain out we probalbly saved a ton of money. Hopefully
someone here can give you the answer you need.
Good luck Lyndell

"Jon Elson" wrote in message
...
Hello, all,

I have a Procunier model 15000 "CNC" tapping head. This is just a set of
clutches for 1:1 forward and 2:1 reverse, with no overload clutch,
leadscrew or other stuff. It depends on the
approximate sync between spindle RPM and quill feed to run the tap in and
out.

When I got it it acted strange, with the clutches grabbing erratically, so
I opened it up and found it FILLED with WD-40.
I figured that wasn't a good solution for cork clutches and cleaned it out
as best as I could. I was guessing that the previous owner (yes, this was
an eBay purchase) had a problem with coolant getting into the works. It
ran much better after removing the WD-40, but I still had occasional
grabbing problems, like both clutches would engage at once and lock it up,
or it would start running real hot. I would find drops of what appeared
to be liquid water on the clutch material.

Anyway, when I tried to use in yesterday, it was solidly frozen.
I pulled it apart and it was MASSIVELY rusted inside! All exposed steel
except the gear teeth were covered with a thick layer of rust! I scraped
the black/grey rust off the cones the clutch grips against, and removed
some of the other rust in non-critical areas, and lubed up the bearings at
both ends of the tap output shaft, and got the job done. I then
disassembled it and left it open, hoping that any remaining water would
dissipate.

I NEVER use this unit with coolant, only brush-applied Alum-Tap
tapping fluid, which has no water in it (napthenic oil and Stoddart
solvent, according to the label) and the unit has been protected from any
possible contamination with water when stored. Where the HELL is this
water coming from? The only reservoir I can imagine is the clutch
material, but that can't hold a large amount of water, can it?

I'm thinking of baking the part with the clutch lining in an oven for a
day at 70 C or something to get the water out of there. Anybody ever run
into anything like this, or have any suggestions about how to stop this
nonsense? I don't think I can find enough room inside to put a dessicant
pack in there, or I'd do that.

Thanks,

Jon