RF-31 Vibration Issue

[eprigge]

I bought a Rong Fu 31 (at least I think it's a 31) a few months ago and have noticed that when I run it for a few minutes it starts to vibrate quite a bit. It is very smooth when first started cold.

I took off the drive belt to chase down the problem and it turns out that its the motor doing it. Anyone run into this before? I know it's a cheap asian motor but I expected a little better than this. Although I bought the mill second-hand it was literally unused so it hasn't seen any wear.

I'm going to try to investigate/repair (probably destroy) the motor but if that fails where would I get a decent, non-crap replacement motor?

[in2steam]

Sounds like either spindle bearings or motor bearings, I would be leaning to spindle myself, is the head gear drive or belt drive?
chris

[eprigge]

The RF-31 is belt driven. I disconnected the motor from everything (took the belt off) and the vibration was still there so it's probably the motor bearings. It's not just an unbalanced rotor because it runs smoothly when first started cold. Once it heats up after a few minutes something goes wrong.

Anyway, I'm going to replace the v belts with Power Twist belts which are supposed to smooth things out but I'm pretty sure I need a new motor also. I just need to figure out where to get one with the same mounting configuration.

Once I get this straightened out hopefully I'm going to do a CNC conversion on it.

[in2steam]

Originally Posted by eprigge The RF-31 is belt driven. I disconnected the motor from everything (took the belt off) and the vibration was still there so it's probably the motor bearings. It's not just an unbalanced rotor because it runs smoothly when first started cold. Once it heats up after a few minutes something goes wrong. Anyway, I'm going to replace the v belts with Power Twist belts which are supposed to smooth things out but I'm pretty sure I need a new motor also. I just need to figure out where to get one with the same mounting configuration. Once I get this straightened out hopefully I'm going to do a CNC conversion on it.

Not that it matters much but a bad motor rotor will also cause that, typically once it heats up. Good Luck with that cnc conversion, round column and all...

chris