Jungner VF600 Downfeed

I have been getting more time using the machines and was a little frustrated with the power downfeed on my Junger VF600 metal mill. When I bought it the machine was covered in gummed up oil and sawdust. This meant that many of the functions it had were tough to engage since knobs need to be turned or pushed in / out and the oil / sawdust was acting like glue. The downfeed is useful to get a consistent finish when using something like a boring head so I want it functioning as I have a couple projects that need some boring done.

The power downfeed required me disassembling the unit:

The unit comes out to reveal this:

This is a latch system to engage a cog which turns the downfeed screw. In the picture you can see a phenolic / tufnol button. This was in constant contact with a cam and was quite worn. I machined up a bronze button that will be in use until I can get some tufnol rod. The machining didn't take long since I was able to take 1.5mm at a time on the lathe:

There really is no substitute for rigidity and horsepower on a lathe. So now the machine is back together with the new button installed. I just have to get to the clutch on the unit to tighten it up and I am done. I'm saving that for another day as  just need to use the machine at the moment.