Fried Green Spindle ?

[Cruiser]

HI all, I think i have a problem ! I've run my mill little the last few months mostly tuning and little stuff, a few weeks ago i started a major project and started getting some real time into running. Some of my cuts would take 30 min's. So maybe i have 40 hrs or so on the spindle. Half slow rpm's in steel, and the other half at full speed in alum, and this is not including the breaking in per Aarons instructions. So i guess what i'm saying is i feel the spindle or whatever gave up is too fresh. I'll have to tear it down this morning to find what is the real culprit and see what can be done. Hum ? wonder if the warrantee is still good, hasn't been a yr yet ? I'm sure this is a bearing somewhere and i highly suspect the spindle itself at this time. I do understand it "had" a one yr warrantee, but with the changing of the guard at IH ! I wonder ..... More info on this one after teardown and inspection i guess and go from there. SAD

[Cruiser]

The bearings are out, cast iron particulates washed out, what looked like a slight smear of grease washed out, and bottom bearing looked scorched, and pitted cup. Tapered rollers top and bottom, now i'd like to find some good replacements and pack them with grease rather than grit ! I've read some trying to find an article about these spindle bearings, got some x3 numbers but don't know if they are the same. guess its research time at the syber market place !

[KEYTEEM]

sorry to here the bad news , can you keep us informed on
your progress as too what bearing #ers you use and such
if you use something different .

Did you find the correct numbers? or are you looking to use something different -cause in the "operation manual"haha
they list 7206E and a 7208D

i might have misunderstood you but sent just in case

[Cruiser]

I got evrything cleaned up and bearings on order. I found 6677K59 6677K62 at mcmaster-carr which are dim'd same as take outs and also design. I was tempted to get some higher ended bearings but decided they can wait till later on , as these would have lasted a very long time but for the cast iron in them. I cleaned out the gearbox before running and now wish i had done the spindle as well. Had i only known how easy it was to pull out i would have. The inside of the gearbox look pristine ! These take outs could have been cleaned and run some more but they were damaged and i'm not in that much of a hurry. I should have it back up and running about the same time my new lathe is delivered, now i can eagerly await both ! And Thanks !

[Runner4404spd]

you can also replace these tapered roller bearings with angular contact bearings. i believe the ones that aaron specced for use with the iso 30 spindle should work as well.

[Zumba]

I was tempted to get some higher ended bearings but decided they can wait till later on

The bearings you use are only as good as the housings and spindle to which they're fitted. Installing ABEC 5/7 angular contact bearings to the IH mill would be pointless. Might even be detrimental. See NC Cams' posts for more info... e.g. how a former customer (or someone like that) tried to press fit an ABEC 7 into a housing that was too small, ended up using all the clearance space, causing the bearing to bind. "Lower end" bearings are much more forgiving.

Nothing wrong with the Timkens you bought from McMaster. My lathe and most other engine lathes use the same type of bearings. Spindle runout on my lathe is under .0002".

[davo727]

Hey Cruiser, Could you give a few pointers on how to best get at the spindle bearings to clean and grease them? Are the seals going to get munched taking it apart? I may go ahead and take mine apart and clean and lube them along with the gearbox since I have my mill all apart for some other mods anyway. I have a WT 7045 mill. Thanks, Dave

[Cruiser]

Davo727, Its easier to take out the spindle than it is to open the gear box. On the left side of the box there is a hole with a set screw inside, then another set screw inside of that and the spindle will drop out. You may have to take off the quil crank if it is on there, I took mine off long ago and it is going to stay off. from there it is basic, no seals to loose. And the bearing are cheap too

[davo727]

Hi Cruiser, Thanks very much for the info, Im gonna work on that this wkend. Dave

[Cruiser]

Well, Its back up and running. I hope that using grease instead of cast iron fines don't hurt it ! I'd like it to keep running for a while. the grease i used is some high quality molly grease and i used plenty. It will need some warmup time for a while butt i'm back in busyness and hope to be back to cutting the custom eng cases today !

[KEYTEEM]

COOL
what did you use grease for the spindle cruiser, and
can you show us any pictures of the custom engine cases you
are working on, they sound interesting.
thanks
good luck with the machine

[Cruiser]

I had to wash out the molly grease today and put in some lighter grease. feels much lighter spin by hand, but i still have a problem. Seems now the spindle is causing a fault with my limits and e-stops the machine. had this going on before but thought i had it cured, now its worse than ever, the 220 appears to be good to motor in the power legs going to terms 1 & 2 with neutral on term 3. could it be mechanical noise, gear box seems a bit noisier. maybe belt drive time, but wouldn't i loose torque at 10% rpm ? The eng cases are for tieing together two husky 100 cc chain saw motors for use in rc mustang. no pics yet and might be a while if i can't keep the machine running ! I've tried everything i could think of and could use some help.