- Joined
- Nov 5, 2016
- Messages
- 1,419
My South Bend 15" lathe was made around 1935 and has the older style spindle bearings with the oil cups up on top of the spindle bearings. It also has the fiber thrust washer on the spindle; not the needle thrust bearing like my newer 13" South Bend.
The fiber disc works well as long as it was adjusted properly. But, therein lays the problem.... In the summer when the humidity gets high in my basement shop the washer swells and locks my spindle up tight as a drum! Every summer I go through this routine of trying to spin my spindle by hand, finding it locked up, and having to back off the adjusting collar. Then, in the late fall early winter I have to tighten things back up because of chatter. I've been putting up with this for years and I finally decided No More!
The only tricky part was getting the gear off the end of the spindle. It's pressed on and there isn't much room between the gear and the adjusting collar even when the collar is all the way forward. All of my pullers were too thick. So, into the press it had to go! I lacked about 1/8" room between the adjustable base on my press so I used a couple of hold down studs with double nuts on each end as jacks to spread it open enough to make the spindle fit. I think I'll cut apart the pieces welded in to hold the channels together and replace them with bolt through spacers so I can easily adjust things in the future. I used four 1/8" thick pieces around the bottom of the gear and after a pop the gear came right off. You can't beat those Harbor Freight 20 ton presses for the money (I got it on sale too).
I ordered a needle bearing from McMaster Carr yesterday and I will get it Tuesday. My spindle diameter where the thrust bearing goes is 1.685" and they only had a 1.750" ID bearing (closest size). I was on the fence whether to just use it as is or make/add a spacer and decided to go with a spacer (1/32" thick). I also thought about going with a bigger bearing so the spacer could be thicker, but decided to try this first. The bearings are cheap enough if I have to make another one up (the shipping will probably be as much as the bearing).
So, now my spindle is patiently waiting in the press for Tuesday when I get the bearing.
Ted
Had to squeeze another 1/8" out of it!
Bearing surface not in too bad of shape for a machine made in 1935...
The 1/32" shim I made on my 13" South Bend. Boy, it's handy to have two lathes!
All set for Tuesday.
The fiber disc works well as long as it was adjusted properly. But, therein lays the problem.... In the summer when the humidity gets high in my basement shop the washer swells and locks my spindle up tight as a drum! Every summer I go through this routine of trying to spin my spindle by hand, finding it locked up, and having to back off the adjusting collar. Then, in the late fall early winter I have to tighten things back up because of chatter. I've been putting up with this for years and I finally decided No More!
The only tricky part was getting the gear off the end of the spindle. It's pressed on and there isn't much room between the gear and the adjusting collar even when the collar is all the way forward. All of my pullers were too thick. So, into the press it had to go! I lacked about 1/8" room between the adjustable base on my press so I used a couple of hold down studs with double nuts on each end as jacks to spread it open enough to make the spindle fit. I think I'll cut apart the pieces welded in to hold the channels together and replace them with bolt through spacers so I can easily adjust things in the future. I used four 1/8" thick pieces around the bottom of the gear and after a pop the gear came right off. You can't beat those Harbor Freight 20 ton presses for the money (I got it on sale too).
I ordered a needle bearing from McMaster Carr yesterday and I will get it Tuesday. My spindle diameter where the thrust bearing goes is 1.685" and they only had a 1.750" ID bearing (closest size). I was on the fence whether to just use it as is or make/add a spacer and decided to go with a spacer (1/32" thick). I also thought about going with a bigger bearing so the spacer could be thicker, but decided to try this first. The bearings are cheap enough if I have to make another one up (the shipping will probably be as much as the bearing).
So, now my spindle is patiently waiting in the press for Tuesday when I get the bearing.
Ted
Had to squeeze another 1/8" out of it!
Bearing surface not in too bad of shape for a machine made in 1935...
The 1/32" shim I made on my 13" South Bend. Boy, it's handy to have two lathes!
All set for Tuesday.