# Help!



## toolman (Feb 18, 2014)

While trying to tram the head on my mill yesterday, I discovered that the spindle has about .006 worth of vertical slop in it. Is there any adjustment to tighten this up or do I have a bearing/thrust washer going south? It runs nice and quiet, but I'm fixing to cut sight dovetails on a 1911 for a potentially very large customer and it needs to be right. I'm heading down to the shop shortly to start tearing into it, but a little insight would be nice before I start slinging parts.


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## RandyM (Feb 18, 2014)

You mean with it locked in position?


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## Ray C (Feb 18, 2014)

What style of mill?  Most of the spindle types I'm familiar with are designed to be locked while making the cut.  It wiggles a tiny bit when unlocked but, it rock solid when locked.  Also, the head or table should be adjusted so that you have minimal quill extension to make the cut.


Ray


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## Tony Wells (Feb 18, 2014)

I'm reading that as end play in the thrust bearings. Unacceptable, and probably does mean a bearing is failing or has failed. At the very least, if it came factory fresh with that much end play, then some shims will remedy it.


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## toolman (Feb 18, 2014)

To clarify, I can lock the quill but there is still vertical play in the spindle. The mill is a ProfitMaster, it's a Tiawanese B-Port clone made by Nantong.
Here's a pic:


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## JimDawson (Feb 18, 2014)

You can pull the quill out and see if you can tighten the preload adjusting nut.  That should take out the play.  If the bearings are rough after tightening then the bearings need to be replaced.  There are lots of articles on rebuilding BP quills on the Internet.


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## toolman (Feb 19, 2014)

JimDawson said:


> You can pull the quill out and see if you can tighten the preload adjusting nut.  That should take out the play.  If the bearings are rough after tightening then the bearings need to be replaced.  There are lots of articles on rebuilding BP quills on the Internet.



I'm going to try to do it without removing the head or motor because this one has a plate right above the forward pulley. It looks like I can pull the top plate, range components, pulley, etc. and hopefully get to the nut. While I'm in there, I'm going to see why it's so hard to shift it into high range.


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## JimDawson (Feb 19, 2014)

toolman said:


> I'm going to try to do it without removing the head or motor because this one has a plate right above the forward pulley. It looks like I can pull the top plate, range components, pulley, etc. and hopefully get to the nut. While I'm in there, I'm going to see why it's so hard to shift it into high range.




If it is a standard BP type spindle, you will have to drop the quill out the bottom to get to the nut.  The spline shaft sticks out of the quill about 10 inches and engages with the internal spline in the drive shaft so I don't think you will be able to get to the nut from the top.  There is a lot of hardware in the way.

To drop the quill out:

Release the tension on the quill return spring, make sure you have the quill lock on or the quill supported on the table or it may just drop.

On some machines, the quill rack goes all the way to the top of the quill.  So all you have to do is support the quill on the table, then crank the table down until the quill comes out the bottom of the head.

If the rack does not go to the top of the quill, you will have to remove the pinion shaft.  It comes out the right side of the head.  Remove the feed clutch on the left side of the head, pull the gear gear out, then remove the snap ring on the inner gear and pull the gear out.  Now you can pull out the pinion shaft.  Be sure to have the quill supported when you do this.

Note:  The quill skirt will be left in the head, so be sure to get the tabs lined up with the keyways when you put it back together.

Hope this helps.


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## jmhoying (Feb 19, 2014)

toolman said:


> I'm going to try to do it without removing the head or motor because this one has a plate right above the forward pulley. It looks like I can pull the top plate, range components, pulley, etc. and hopefully get to the nut. While I'm in there, I'm going to see why it's so hard to shift it into high range.



I easily removed the spindle without dropping the whole quill out.  My only head-scratcher was that the spindle hung up as I tapped it out.  Turns out that on some clones, the bolt that holds the adjustable quill stop (on the front of the head) projects far enough to cause interference.  Just had to back it out a bit and the spindle came right out.

Jack


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## JimDawson (Feb 19, 2014)

jmhoying said:


> I easily removed the spindle without dropping the whole quill out.  My only head-scratcher was that the spindle hung up as I tapped it out.  Turns out that on some clones, the bolt that holds the adjustable quill stop (on the front of the head) projects far enough to cause interference.  Just had to back it out a bit and the spindle came right out.
> 
> Jack




You are absolutely correct.  I forgot about dropping the spindle out that way.  That is the quickest way.

I also forgot to mention removing the quill stop.  That's what I get for trying to answer technical questions when I'm half asleep. 

Helping each other is what this forum is all about.


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## toolman (Feb 19, 2014)

Thanks guys, that gives me a lot more to work with than just blindly yanking stuff! I'm hoping that I can just adjust it up, but I'm not going to attempt that without inspecting all of the bearings first. The machine came from a business in OKC that made custom storm windows, doors, and store displays. Judging by the swarf, it was mainly used on aluminum and plexiglass but they guy told me it didn't get used very often because they had a B-Port right next to it with a DRO and X,Y, and Z feeds. My main concern is that it didn't get lubed properly when it WAS being used, although this is the only thing that I've found wrong with it.


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## toolman (Feb 19, 2014)

Welp, I dropped the quill and spindle assembly which took about 15 min. plus another 20 minutes to figure out how to get the stinking drawbar back up high enough to clear the spindle (note to self-pull the freaking drawbar before dropping the quill!). Looks like I get to replace the bearings, which sucks because it's just because of the previous operators not lubing it before use. The guy that loaded it for me said they just used it as a big drill press when they used it at all. I'm going to talk to my buddy at the bearing supply house tomorrow and see how bad this is going to hurt the ole wallet. There are three bearings and I'm betting around $100 apiece, but maybe he can hook me up with a better deal.


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## JimDawson (Feb 19, 2014)

toolman said:


> Welp, I dropped the quill and spindle assembly which took about 15 min. plus another 20 minutes to figure out how to get the stinking drawbar back up high enough to clear the spindle (note to self-pull the freaking drawbar before dropping the quill!). Looks like I get to replace the bearings, which sucks because it's just because of the previous operators not lubing it before use. The guy that loaded it for me said they just used it as a big drill press when they used it at all. I'm going to talk to my buddy at the bearing supply house tomorrow and see how bad this is going to hurt the ole wallet. There are three bearings and I'm betting around $100 apiece, but maybe he can hook me up with a better deal.




The top bearing is about 12 bucks.  The lower pair will run about $300 or so.  I'm having mine rebuilt right now at the local spindle shop, doing the 5 bearing upgrade.  About $600 and another $300 if the taper needs grinding.  Ouch.

Be sure you understand how to put the angular contact bearings in and how to preload them.  Google   Bridgeport Spindle Rebuild, there is a lot of info out there.


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