FEIT DCL-8500N : Stump for Tilting Machine Head

[friquant]

How does this "tilt stump" attach to the table? Is there a nut under the table? Or do I pry the plastic cap off to reveal a bolt head and it screws out the top?

This is a customer's machine, a FEIT DCL-8500N. The closest manual I have found so far is this one for the Artisan 8500N.

I brought the head unit home with me for repair. But I'm convinced that the tilt stump is in the wrong place. It prevented the head unit from tilting all the way back. But after a couple minutes, the handwheel end of the head unit slithered off the table hinge and into the drip pan. Nobody was hurt in the process, but seems liable to happen again.

My intention is to move the stump further away from the operator, and a maybe a couple inches left (from the operator's perspective) so that it loses its tendency to lift the machine off of the table hinge closest to the hand wheel. But I'll need to pack the appropriate tools to do so, and while I was there I did not manage to figure out how it attaches.

 

 

artisan-8500n__similar-to-feit-dcl-8500n__manual.pdf

[kgg]

1 hour ago, friquant said:

But I'm convinced that the tilt stump is in the wrong place.

This a typical location for the "tilt stump". Typically just made of plastic, pressure fitted into a hole drilled into the table top and meant as a temporary rest. The machine " slithered off the table hinge and into the drip pan " indicates to me incorrect / damaged hinge and or hinge installation. I have never had a head slip off and with my stubby fingers I am also titling my flatbed machines back to install / remove bobbins.

kgg

Edited 9 hours ago by kgg

[friquant]

1 hour ago, kgg said:

The machine " slithered off the table hinge and into the drip pan " indicates to me incorrect / damaged hinge and or hinge installation.

Anybody care to measure the distance from the hinge line to the tilt stump on their machine? 

My working hypothesis is that a tilt stump too close the the hinge axis will lift the machine off its hinges.

For reference, this is the hinge type on the table.

 

I have not personally owned this style of hinge. It appears that even with the machine head tilted back, the hinge can still be pulled straight out of the table. But I suspect that is true of this other style as well:

 

 

[dikman]

With "older" machines the rest (which is what it is) is made of wood and just pushes into the hole in the table, I've made my own from a broomstick handle. If you think it's too high you could cut it down or once you get it out try making a couple of replacements at different heights to see which works best.

[Northmount]

Some machines have a screw that locks the hinge to the machine base.  Stops the machine from sliding around when tilted.  Have a closer look at your machine and the type of hinge it uses.  Maybe you will have an easy fix.

 

[friquant]

10 minutes ago, Northmount said:

Some machines have a screw that locks the hinge to the machine base.  Stops the machine from sliding around when tilted.  Have a closer look at your machine and the type of hinge it uses. 

No lock screws on this one.

I've got the head unit on my workbench, and I've been experimenting with different support points using a test support. Some positions are quite stable, other cause it to lift at the hinge line. I think I'll 3D print a new support (shorter than the original so the head unit pivots exactly 90 degrees) and use either a screw or double-sided sticky tape to hold it down in one of the stabler locations.

The other idea that popped in would be to screw the support to the back of the machine head. But then I'd have to source screws that match the threads that the rear cover plate is already using.