- Joined
- Sep 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,305
Phil - no bearings as such, the spindle runs directly in the headstock, steel on cast iron. I'm guessing this wasn't a production machine back in the day 
Tony - I hadn't thought of it at all. I wouldn't really know how to and I'd be especially worried about screwing it up. I've read about it, enough to know how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! I'm a little leery about facing the spindle register again as I've done it once already and I don't want it to get too thin.
I don't think there's an easy way to replace just the spindle (no space for a roller bearing, can't grind for a bronze bearing), so a better option may be to keep put the original headstock and spindle somewhere safe and make/ buy a new headstock and spindle. I saw a nice Taig on eBay, but $150 is waaay out of my price range. I'll keep looking and thinking, but in all reality I probably won't have time to get to a ground up build before we move in a few months time and we may have to move back to the UK (end of visa = no more Mattthemuppet in the US without a new job), which would further disrupt things. Still, on the bright side, I may get a job, in which case I might have enough money to buy a bigger lathe
Tony - I hadn't thought of it at all. I wouldn't really know how to and I'd be especially worried about screwing it up. I've read about it, enough to know how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! I'm a little leery about facing the spindle register again as I've done it once already and I don't want it to get too thin.
I don't think there's an easy way to replace just the spindle (no space for a roller bearing, can't grind for a bronze bearing), so a better option may be to keep put the original headstock and spindle somewhere safe and make/ buy a new headstock and spindle. I saw a nice Taig on eBay, but $150 is waaay out of my price range. I'll keep looking and thinking, but in all reality I probably won't have time to get to a ground up build before we move in a few months time and we may have to move back to the UK (end of visa = no more Mattthemuppet in the US without a new job), which would further disrupt things. Still, on the bright side, I may get a job, in which case I might have enough money to buy a bigger lathe