Noisy milling machine

[jdm23]

I was in the middle of light sawing when the machine started making a strange "almost ticking" noise, apparently from the top of the spindle.

• It does it in either L/H speeds, not in in neutral
• I have inspected all I could, including the motor, intermediate, and input shaft gears, which are under the the plate in the video, all are fine.
• I can't feel or hear anything strange, endplay, etc. moving the spindle or the input gear by hand.
• Nothing appears wrong with the quill, noise is the same no matter iis position

I'm puzzled because I can only think about a faulty roller bearing but the noise is nothing like that.

The only place I haven't look yet, due to being difficult to access, is the inspection port behind the gearbox. Since all shafts are pressed in, complete disassembly doesn't seem that easy, but if someone had done it please tell because I'm really bugged by this..

 

[DAT510]

I can't quite tell what model mill you have from the video, but it looks like there is a belt or gears underneath the black plate? You might check to see if something has shifted or come loose under there.

Edit: Sorry, I missed that you had already check those parts.....

I have heard similar sounds with shafts spinning in bad bushings, but not with roller bearings.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Does the noise persist if you remove the drawbar?

 

[mmcmdl]

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Classic-Plugs-Individually-Wrapped/dp/B009AYFPXE/ref=asc_df_B009AYFPXE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=366402391883&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7641288749341057019&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007839&hvtargid=pla-464387022420&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=76640857419&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=366402391883&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7641288749341057019&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007839&hvtargid=pla-464387022420

This was what a past boss suggested after I informed him the BP top bearing was shot .

 

[jdm23]

Alright, it took a long while but I figured that out.

I said I was going light but in fact I had stalled the machine at least once. Looking at the control board the machine should have overcurrent protection, as well a (not present on one) fault lamp. Perhaps isn't calibrated right but protection never triggers.

Anyway on a stall something may move and the gears play under the plate change slightly. If you loosen the plate screw you can try finding a better position but if that isn't enough you have to work with the 4 screws holding the motor and find the best position by ear. At least that's how I did it.

The middle gear is reinforced plastic which I suppose is to make it the designed break point in case of hard incidents.

I took the occasion to give the machine a complete clean and check, made some adjustments and swapped over some buttons on the quill digital readout which had failed.

Sorry I did not specified before but that is the common "500w - 16mm max cutter"" milling head.