G'day All
I have managed to find a relatively cheap Jones & Shipman 540 surface grinder. This one looks to be a very early model, perhaps around the early to mid 50's. The slide ways and hydraulics are in OK condition but the plain bronze spindle bearings are completely shot. The previous owner(s) have done a lot of adjusting with the wrong tools and pretty much destroyed them. The threads on each end of the taper bearings are almost striped and they've used a hammer and punch to tighten/loosen the castellated adjusting nuts. Every castellation has a massive burr on it. The spindle shaft is in reasonable condition with some minor scoring in places..
In any case it appears to be a write off as it is.. Spare parts appear to not be available for the plain bearing heads so my first thought is to just re-make the bronze bushings but i would also have to make and or repair all of the wedge strips, lock nuts, spacers etc etc and to be honest i have zero experience with these types of bearings, their adjustments, oil lube etc etc..
So my plan at the moment is to convert it over to precision angular contact bearings. This would also require considerable work, but its work that i am at least familiar with as i've rebuilt a few milling spindles etc in the past..
Has anyone done this before successfully? I don't see much point in re inventing the wheel so any other experience in the area would be valuable.
I have the section view of the J&S ball bearing spindle as a design starting point, but due to the differences in the housing, i will have to modify it somewhat.
Alternatively, are there complete spindle cartridge assemblies available that could be retro fitted? The housing bore is 2.5" (63.5mm) dia and around 7.5" long.
Cheers
Lee
I have managed to find a relatively cheap Jones & Shipman 540 surface grinder. This one looks to be a very early model, perhaps around the early to mid 50's. The slide ways and hydraulics are in OK condition but the plain bronze spindle bearings are completely shot. The previous owner(s) have done a lot of adjusting with the wrong tools and pretty much destroyed them. The threads on each end of the taper bearings are almost striped and they've used a hammer and punch to tighten/loosen the castellated adjusting nuts. Every castellation has a massive burr on it. The spindle shaft is in reasonable condition with some minor scoring in places..
In any case it appears to be a write off as it is.. Spare parts appear to not be available for the plain bearing heads so my first thought is to just re-make the bronze bushings but i would also have to make and or repair all of the wedge strips, lock nuts, spacers etc etc and to be honest i have zero experience with these types of bearings, their adjustments, oil lube etc etc..
So my plan at the moment is to convert it over to precision angular contact bearings. This would also require considerable work, but its work that i am at least familiar with as i've rebuilt a few milling spindles etc in the past..
Has anyone done this before successfully? I don't see much point in re inventing the wheel so any other experience in the area would be valuable.
I have the section view of the J&S ball bearing spindle as a design starting point, but due to the differences in the housing, i will have to modify it somewhat.
Alternatively, are there complete spindle cartridge assemblies available that could be retro fitted? The housing bore is 2.5" (63.5mm) dia and around 7.5" long.
Cheers
Lee