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Sleeve bearing adjustment

Mike Green

Aluminum
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Location
Lowell Ma.
OK, so after 250 to 300 hours into the refurbishment of my heavy 10 lathe, I am now in the process of dealing with the headstock sleeve bearings. First I removed the bearing caps as per the manual, removed the spindle assembly and back gear assembly and reverse lever with associated gearing and set all that aside. Cleaned up-prepared and primed and painted all the headstock castings, covers and bearing caps.Then remounted the headstock casting to the bed. Then pulled off the spindle gear, slipped everything else off up to the left of the bull gear, did'nt remove that because I have no arbor press. Cleaned off all the gunk on those pieces and re-assembled on the bench. The previous owner had the bearing expanders sitting on top of the slots not actualy slid into them and ran it that way for some period of time, so they were buggered a bit. I used a file to dress the expanders and the left bearing, but could'nt get at the right one to dress it and let it be. I spread the right bearing with snap ring pliers and dropped in the expander. Now I placed the assembly back into the headstock, put the existing .015" brass shims in place,put the caps on,screwed in the expander screws to spread the bearing to some unknowable amount,screwed in the cap screws and tightened them.OK now it's adjustment time, after several attempts I can either get, a reading on the dial indicator of .002"-.005" upward spindle movement or .001"-.0015" but the spindle feels way too tight when I try to rotate it by hand :confused: Is it that the shims are too thick? Please HELP!! Mike
 
Here are some issues to consider:

1) how were the oiler wicks under the spindle
when you had it out? I think you need to
hold them down when re-installing the spindle.
If they hang up they can get caught between the
spindle and bearings.

2) are the expanders operating correctly? If
they've been thinned out by dressing them they
might not open up the shells correctly.

3) the correct assembly sequence really is to
tighten down the caps first, *then* snug the
expander screws. There is no torque spec but
I use an allen wrench with my hand on the short
arm, and make them comfortably snug with that
once they bottom down.

4) is the thrust bearing slacked off all the
way?

5) you can try to figure out which bearing
is hanging by leaving one, or the other, very
slack and seeing if the spindle runs correctly
with one of them at spec.

I am sure others will chime in here.

Jim
 
Jim, Thanks for the reply.
1) Yes the oiler wicks were held down out of the way with wires, so its not that.
2)When I dressed the expanders I only filed off the deformed areas ( the high spots).
3)Your suggested sequence will be helpfull. Thank you.
4)The thrust bearing was hand snugged as per the manual. I'll try slackening it.
5)Not sure what you mean by the bearing hanging?
The issue of the brass shims. As they are they measure .015" and they are NOT the laminated type. What would be a good starting point for shim thickness. By the way I was only able to salvage one good Gits oiler from the entire machine, most were either mangled or missing. I plan to replace them all with new. I need to find a local supplier for these as Gits themselves has a minimum policy and a 30 day lead time. The one in the pick is what I would like to get. Is that 1/8" pipe thread on the end? Also there are no oilers on the machine now and no oil at all in the headstock or bearings.
PC010003.jpg


PC010002.jpg

Thanks Mike
 








 
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