# HF 40939 X axis quandary and Spindle bearing replacement help sought



## t2krookie (May 14, 2020)

Sweet and short, movers toppled over my previously sweet running little knee mill. Now, as I crank the x axis, a stationary indicator in a collet shows rise in the table the farther left I crank. There is apparently also so strange bed warping with a rise in the middle that I had not seen in the 2 years  I been playing with this machine.  Are the little 6x26 tables thin enough that a simple topple  could warp it, or should I be looking at something else? What puzzles me is the rise of the table with a stationary gauge.  The poor thing fell on the left table wheel of which the handle bent and thankfully took much of the impact with it.

I removed the hand wheel bearing block from the table with same results when cranking left and yes it would fall when cranking right.
I plan to dissemble the table once I finished a critical job for another machine. Of note, to get by for the other project, I simply shimmed my vise close enough for <1/2 thou in x axis and mounted the vice in the outside t-Slots rather than both in the middle slot (Could that have contributed as well?)

If all else fails, my father in law (50+ year tool and die maker) had mentioned once that he had to actually refinish the entire bed. Unfortunately, he didn't go into much detail and I cant imagine how it could be done with the restriction of the x axis being what it is. He was insistent it was done mounted. Any other options would love to hear. 

Lastly, the bearings on this seem a lot noisier than before and I read several threads over the years bout replacing them improving this immensely but had been fine with the noise up until this accident and now more interested. It still cuts true and no chatter with a firm setup but the noise is definitely getting worse. Can anyone point me to someones posts on this particular mill on such a project? As I look back on the threads , I found little practical information and my questions had gone unanswered for an extended period of time, thus I seek answers here. My questions to HF themselves  have been ignored.




Any and all advice is appreciated, except give up. I like this little machine and have had good results keeping tolerances. I just want her back in shape again.


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## benmychree (May 14, 2020)

Cast iron does bend with impact, I saw this recently in a lathe that did a face plant, the cross feed took the impact, bent the bearing bracket and the cross feed shaft inside it, I was able to straighten it so that the customer can use it again; idiots on parade, moving machinery ---


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## matthewsx (May 14, 2020)

Seems like the moving company should be buying you a new mill....

john


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## benmychree (May 14, 2020)

matthewsx said:


> Seems like the moving company should be buying you a new mill.
> That came to my mind as well!


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## Richard King 2 (May 29, 2020)

Hopefully the movers have Insurance?   Those harbor Freight machines are not to hot when new.    How much is a new machine?   You could spend a lot of time and money figuring what Ben said the impact probably bent or even broke the casting.  I am thinking the gib and gib bolt is bent or broke and that's why it moves one way and not the other.  Have you ever check a pool cue by rolling it on a table to see if it's straight?   You need to do that with the feed screw.   I would dismantle all the ways and check things out.  Ask your your Dadto come and help.  50 years a tool maker he hasa  lot of experience.  Best to let him do the talking too....Rich


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## rjs44032 (May 29, 2020)

t2krookie,

Not sure which HF machine you have. If it's a Central Machinery brand, then it may be a match to Grizzly machines of the same type. Grizzly sells individual parts for most of their smaller mills. I was able to get a new bed way for my Dad's machine from them. Cost was not too much for the casting. YMMV.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Bob


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