IH Spindle / Quill dimensions?

[Stuff-Builder]

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone has the dimensions of an assembled IH spindle/quill assembly? Is the precisely 3.000" OD? What about the length of the quill and the distance the spindle extends out on each end?

I have an old Gorton 8D with a broken spindle. The quill bore is ground to 3.000" and I'm thinking one of these quills might be a very nice replacement.

Any info you could offer would be a big help!

Thanks,
Scott

[Cruiser]

I just measured mine and have a diam of 2.9525"
This is the only measure i am able to get to without
dismantling.

[Stuff-Builder]

Thanks Cruiser.

So it looks like these are the "standard" 75 mm quill rather than a true 3".

Do you think it would be possible for me to use some bronze shims to take up the difference in diameter? The spindle housing does have a adjustment bolt at the very bottom, so I can use that to tighten everything up.

What else might work for adapting to a new quill? I'm open to anything at the moment. I'm not looking for something super-precise or bomber-ridgid - I just want to be able to do some general machining.

Thanks, Scott

[Cruiser]

I don't think shimming would be the way to go. and i think it would be too much for plating so the best bet would be to find if the spindle would fit into your quil ! It may require some fancy bearing application or slight boring of quil for bearing fitment. IH may have a R8 left from a conversion or you could get the 30 taper from them, or find another source for a spindle. Another bet would be to make a spindle from scratch out of steel. It would be trick but possible, using your broken spindle as a pattern to go by. you might be able to take your top end down and bore it, sleeve and fit quil. That would be the most troublesome tho and expensive if you couldn't do it yourself ! I think I'd bet on fitting a new spindle to your old quil as the best option.
good luck, i think you'll need it !

[Stuff-Builder]

I need all the luck I can get on this one!

Yeah, I was hoping one of the chinese mills would have a true 3" quill but everything is really 75mm. The Bridgeport quills are too large (3.25 or 3.375 - I don't remember which), so that doesn't help.

The original quill used really small bearings - only 17mm ID - and had a 300 DA nose.

I really want to just get it converted to a simple R8. I'm thinking real hard about getting a spindle assembly for a super X-3 (only 2.375" OD, vs 2.5" for the original spindle). Then I could make a new lower bushing and upper bushing to match. The original spindle was sort of like this - it had a fixed ground lower bushing that could be adjusted for preload with the bolt. Then I could press on an upper bushing and cut some gear teeth in that for the quill feed. That might get the job done.

I could try to machine the whole spindle housing from raw stock, but I strongly doubt I'm good enough with my lathe to pull it off!