02-26-2016, 11:14 PM
Thanks fellas. I'm enjoying the forum. I just found it a few weeks ago.
So here's the issue I'm investigating: There's a little more noise in the spindle than seems right to me, so I figured I'd drop the spindle and have a look at the bearings. I'm a "mechanically minded person" but a total noob to 3-axis mill maintenance and repair. I watched a couple You-Tube videos of gents dropping spindles on Bridgeports. They show that all you need to do is remove the collet and draw-bar (obviously) then unscrew the nose cap and tap on the top end of the spindle with a brass bar and a mallet. The whole spindle drops right out of the quill without much trouble.
So, I spun a wrench on the lathe to twist off the nose-cap:
Twisted off the nose-cap:
and proceeded to bonk on the top end of the spindle with a rod and mallet. It dropped a little over an inch easily, then seems to be held up. It doesn't feel like a burr or interference really, it's a fairly abrubt stop, like I forgot to move something out of the way.
In this picture you can see how far down it came. I believe the bottom ring there is the outside of the lower bearing, and the little bit of sleeve you can see still inside the quill is the spacer between the lower and middle bearing.
Can anyone comment on the subtleties of the Kondia spindle to quill interface and how it might differ from a Bridgeport?
I already touched base with Mayhem. He is going to send me some drawings that will hopefully shed some light on this subject.
Thanks gents!
Rusty
So here's the issue I'm investigating: There's a little more noise in the spindle than seems right to me, so I figured I'd drop the spindle and have a look at the bearings. I'm a "mechanically minded person" but a total noob to 3-axis mill maintenance and repair. I watched a couple You-Tube videos of gents dropping spindles on Bridgeports. They show that all you need to do is remove the collet and draw-bar (obviously) then unscrew the nose cap and tap on the top end of the spindle with a brass bar and a mallet. The whole spindle drops right out of the quill without much trouble.
So, I spun a wrench on the lathe to twist off the nose-cap:
Twisted off the nose-cap:
and proceeded to bonk on the top end of the spindle with a rod and mallet. It dropped a little over an inch easily, then seems to be held up. It doesn't feel like a burr or interference really, it's a fairly abrubt stop, like I forgot to move something out of the way.
In this picture you can see how far down it came. I believe the bottom ring there is the outside of the lower bearing, and the little bit of sleeve you can see still inside the quill is the spacer between the lower and middle bearing.
Can anyone comment on the subtleties of the Kondia spindle to quill interface and how it might differ from a Bridgeport?
I already touched base with Mayhem. He is going to send me some drawings that will hopefully shed some light on this subject.
Thanks gents!
Rusty