What's new
What's new

Churchill Hydrauto Bearings

Johnemptage

Plastic
Joined
Jan 2, 2020
Hi All, I have an old, large Churchill plain grinder, I think it may be a "D" or "F" type? It takes a 24" grinding wheel. I have been having problems with spindle movement when grinding heavily. Does anybody have any ideas on how to fix this, or what may be the cause? Does anybody have diagrams of the Hydrauto spindle set up , so I can maybe play around with this one?

Thanks for your help
John
 
Your in the home of the sucker if you cannot find information in the UK about it, you may if your lucky find it elsewhere if not you will just have to work it out yourself.

They had a few old Churchills at the shop i once worked at, i suppose being so old now if they have any problems with them they will likely just scrap them and buy something much newer. I suspect they are worn in many areas not just the spindle so fixing one area will only reveal problems in another area.
 
Your first step should be to check bearing play with a tenth guage.......and secondly ,grinders arent meant to take heavy cuts,but lots of light passes......not only do heavy cuts wreck abrasive ,bearings and force tables out of ways,but the heating effect ,even with flood coolant causes the workpiece to bend into the wheel,and sooner or later you will have a wheel burst .
 
Thinking about it,I suspect Hydrauto bearings are likley a knockoff of Cincinnati "Filmatic" bearings ,which have a self adjusting rocking action........a dynamic bearing which shows no clue as to condition when stopped......A sure guide to Filmatic bearings is noise ,if they run noiselessly ,they are OK.The machine should also "spark out" in a few passes ,and hold size.....All this assumes the bearings havent been wrecked with heavy cuts .
 
" Hydrauto " bearings are very " oil viscosity. " sensitive. Are you using the correct oil in the grinding head ? It should be " Tellus 3 " if my memory serves me well, that's a very thin hydraulic oil.

I once spent the best part of a week trouble shooting a machine like yours only to find out the operator had replaced the oil with something pretty unsuitable.

When everything's running right " Hydrauto " bearings will last a lifetime without any attention. I think they were a " Churchill " patent, I don't know much about the " Filmatic " design.

I used to have all the drawings for the " Hydrauto " bearings but I gave them away years ago.

Regards Tyrone.
 
Hi John,

It is more than likely excessive wear in the bearings, which depending on the condition of the spindle you may be able to reclaim the spindle and manufacture new bearings to suit. Feel free to give us a call and we'll be able to give you a bit more information.

Sam, The Churchill Machine Tool Company
 








 
Back
Top