# PM spindle "break in"?



## maker of things (Sep 9, 2014)

I don't see any instructions in Ray's writeup on the 1236 faq regarding a spindle break in procedure.  The owner's manual for most machines from "the bear" have you run each gear speed forward and reverse for 10 minutes.  Should this be done?  Or nothing until 10 hours?


----------



## zmotorsports (Sep 9, 2014)

On my PM1340GT I ran each gear in each direction for 10-15 minutes each.  Then by the time I got done truing it and playing around with it I had roughly 10-ish hours on it.  At that time I replaced the lubricant in the headstock and the apron.

I can't speak with any certainty on the 1236 but I would assume it would be similar.


----------



## maker of things (Sep 9, 2014)

This will be on a 1440E.  But you would say good general practice to slosh a bunch of oil around then change it before doing any real work?


----------



## zmotorsports (Sep 9, 2014)

Yes I would.  I would break it in throughout the gears, then drain the oil and get any/all foreign material out of the gearbox.  Add a good quality, clean oil and make chips.  Depending on usage I would service the headstock and apron either annually or every other year.

Mike.


----------



## maker of things (Sep 9, 2014)

Sounds like a plan.


----------



## Falcon67 (Sep 9, 2014)

FWIW - I did the same on my mill, ran it forward and reverse in all gears then changed the headstock oil.  So far, so good.  On the Enco 12x36 I intend to pull the cover off the gearbox and clean it out before running the machine at all.


----------



## darkzero (Sep 9, 2014)

10-15 mins in each gear & reverse is good. Keep an eye on overheating during the process which will indicate if something is wrong. I like to do 5-10 mins in each gear & reverse. Let cool, then do it again. I like to change the oil after but you don't have to change it out that soon.


----------



## maker of things (Sep 9, 2014)

I didn't know if maybe that was part of what PM does prior to shipping or something.  No sense in doing it twice.
Ray hasn't returned my email to answer that for nearly a week and if needed I wanted to have the oil on hand in case I decide to do the oil change at 4:00am or something.  

Crossing various appendages to get a shipping notification this week.


----------



## zmotorsports (Sep 9, 2014)

maker of things said:


> I didn't know if maybe that was part of what PM does prior to shipping or something.  No sense in doing it twice.
> Ray hasn't returned my email to answer that for nearly a week and if needed I wanted to have the oil on hand in case I decide to do the oil change at 4:00am or something.
> 
> Crossing various appendages to get a shipping notification this week.



I don't believe Matt runs them at his warehouse, he merely opens them up and confirms everything is there and if he has to add any options he does so at that time.

I don't know where Ray C. has been, I haven't seen him on the forum much lately.


----------



## darkzero (Sep 9, 2014)

I don't think they run a break in period, not likely that any seller does, it doesn't make sense for them to do. I once heard that Matt tests run each machine briefly but I'm not sure. Both my lathe & mill didn't seem like they were. Again not likely & no big deal IMO.


----------



## darkzero (Sep 9, 2014)

zmotorsports said:


> I don't know where Ray C. has been, I haven't seen him on the forum much lately.



The last update he posted, he stated he's been having internet service issues & has also been very busy, but will be back posting as soon as he can.


----------



## Ray C (Sep 9, 2014)

Folks,

I've been gone for a while.  Actually took a couple days off and went to the Ocean but upon return, had to work 10 times as hard to catch-up.  And yes, a few weeks ago, they dug-up the underground cables in my area and I purchased an upgraded Internet service and the transition was not good for about 2 weeks.


Spindle Break In:   For either a lathe or mill, run the machine in each gear for a couple minutes, forward and reverse.  You don't need to spend much time in the really fast gears -maybe just a minute.  This will get everything warmed up.  The chances of anything going wrong are very slim... -extremely slim.  Matt test runs every machine before sending.

The most common failure of a new machine are the capacitors in single phase motors.  There's always a chance of early mortality with almost all caps.  If they go early, it will be in the first week.  If they go past that, they will live for 10+ years.

Oil Change:  After 20-40 hours of use on a new machine, change the oil.  ISO 32 hydraulic is recommend for most environments while ISO 68 is recommend for really hot environments.  You won't hurt the machine either way.  After the 1st oil change, consider changing it after 700-1000 hours of run time.  Purchasing a "run-time" meter and wiring it into your system is a good way to measure this.


Ray


----------



## maker of things (Sep 10, 2014)

Thanks guys.  Ray, I hope your trip to the ocean was vacation, not some big at sea job (but hopefully you wrote it off as though it was).


----------

