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Atlas Headstock Bearings Questions And Concerns
- Thread starter Strtspdlx
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 613
Strtspdlx,
Re :-
In your first post the first picture I strongly think the crud you have is fine turned off metal particles and shavings that have entered the bearing cavity via the clearance gap of the thin sheet metal caps that cover either side of the the bearings.
When I took possession off my lathe in August last year the lathe was noisy and" heavy " running off load . I found the bearing grease ( Yes , I have grease caps/points as original fittings ) bleed out had brass , aluminium and what looked like cast iron particles in it after I washed it out in a carbon tetrachloride ( CTC) de-greaser to see what the metal content was .
On taking head stock shaft out (mine is held in by removable bearing caps ) there was loads of metal & grease crud identical to what you show that flushed out the taper bearings when I washed them out with CTC and a 1/2 " paint brush . Once cleaned & dried off I re greased them , reassembled everything then refilled the grease pots .... the lathe now runs as quite as a mouse and as smooth as silk at the headstock .
My next step is to alleviate a noisy cross shaft that flings out the daily oil lubrication like there is no tomorrow , it has evidently been run dry for a long time as the cross shaft ends in the bearings bears 2 battle wounds " .
I hope to make new bearing blocks and insert a pair of circlip retained sealed for life high speed ball bearing races in each mounting block instead of messing around with phosphor bronze to make precision reamed bearings & all that that entails .
Re :-
In your first post the first picture I strongly think the crud you have is fine turned off metal particles and shavings that have entered the bearing cavity via the clearance gap of the thin sheet metal caps that cover either side of the the bearings.
When I took possession off my lathe in August last year the lathe was noisy and" heavy " running off load . I found the bearing grease ( Yes , I have grease caps/points as original fittings ) bleed out had brass , aluminium and what looked like cast iron particles in it after I washed it out in a carbon tetrachloride ( CTC) de-greaser to see what the metal content was .
On taking head stock shaft out (mine is held in by removable bearing caps ) there was loads of metal & grease crud identical to what you show that flushed out the taper bearings when I washed them out with CTC and a 1/2 " paint brush . Once cleaned & dried off I re greased them , reassembled everything then refilled the grease pots .... the lathe now runs as quite as a mouse and as smooth as silk at the headstock .
My next step is to alleviate a noisy cross shaft that flings out the daily oil lubrication like there is no tomorrow , it has evidently been run dry for a long time as the cross shaft ends in the bearings bears 2 battle wounds " .
I hope to make new bearing blocks and insert a pair of circlip retained sealed for life high speed ball bearing races in each mounting block instead of messing around with phosphor bronze to make precision reamed bearings & all that that entails .
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 613
" Loctite " can solve that problem Robert .....simply turn a small stepped adapter collar out of a high grade steel bolt and " glue " it in ..
Guess , I'll have to go and wash my mouth out with carbolic soap ........ right now !
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 10,552
Yes, that would work. But it will be at least half an inch taller than the other one and look like a jury rig. Whereas unless the hinge ears are broken off of the old cup, once fixed the way that I suggested it would look (and be) original.
It's funny you mention that. The hinge is still fully intact on the cup missing the cap. It seems as though just the cap broke off the hinge.
At this point I'm attempting to repair the cracked motor housing once this is repaired and working (hopefully). I can run the machine in and see if I can alleviate most of my issues.
I think now when I had reinstalled the dust covers I may have ran on in too far and moved one of the bearing races and this may be why I'm having the issue I am.
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- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 10,552
OK on the oil cup. I probably should have asked for confirmation of that before suggesting buying the larger cup for the cap.
Perhaps the best way to install the inner dust covers would be to install them first. Then pull in the cups. If the covers are too far in, they would be moved back out until the cup bottomed on the machined shoulder.
Perhaps the best way to install the inner dust covers would be to install them first. Then pull in the cups. If the covers are too far in, they would be moved back out until the cup bottomed on the machined shoulder.
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2015
- Messages
- 361
You said you have .006" on a 7" bar. How are you measuring this? In setting up spindle units on some big machines at work(3stories tall and the pallet you can park a medium duty truck on) we check alignment and runout with some 2 micron indicators. Just pushing on the test bar lightly a single finger will get 5 microns (.0004")of flex on the test bar. Walking across the massive pallets does the same. Pulling with some force will see several thousands. Some of this is bar flex and some machine
Point is if such a massive machine is flexed the limp noodle that our atlas surely will more so. I don't remember the numbers but tension and untension the belts on your atlas with an indicator on the side of a bar and you will se several thousands movement. This is not necessarily play but the lightly made spindle flexing.
Point is if such a massive machine is flexed the limp noodle that our atlas surely will more so. I don't remember the numbers but tension and untension the belts on your atlas with an indicator on the side of a bar and you will se several thousands movement. This is not necessarily play but the lightly made spindle flexing.