So as usual I decided to take a perfectly good and working machine and mess with it. I decided to upgrade my central machinery 7x12 mini lathe to roller bearings. The back bearing pressed out easy. The front bearing was such a bear I almost quit. Unfortunately I didn't inspect the spindle closely before I pulled the bearing but after I was done I noticed stress cracks. I'm not sure if this was just a function of bad bearing puller technique or if the stress cracks were what caused the issues pulling the bearing. I really had to crank the puller screw to get the bearing off to the point where my 18mm wrench wasn't able to turn it anymore with the jaws opening up. Something tells me the puller caused the damage but the cracks are on both sides of the spindle and I don't think it was bent and I can't see any galling. It has about .2mm of runout checked in my other lathe.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?