Hello all, This is my first post here. If this is not the correct sub-forum for this post, please let me know and I will move it. I'm in need of some expert opinions.
I'm an amateur machinist and a bamboo fly rod maker. We (my brother-in-law and I) have an old Elgin Toolworks lathe (2 actually) from about 1920 that we use for many operations. One has recently developed what seemed like bad bearings or some debris had gotten in between the rotating spindle and the castings so we were forced to disassemble the headstock and bearings to at least clean it up and see what the problem was. After getting the spindle completely disassembled it appears the bearings may be OK but never having done this it's hard for us to tell. The bearings are New Departure 3206 for the rear and New Departure L07 as a pair on the front. The odd thing is that there appears to be a prefix and suffix that looks like it was added later (by Elgin maybe?). The rear bearing is PT3206 with the PT in a completely different font appearing to be hand printed. The front bearings say POL07DBL with the PO and DBL in the different font. It also has a W on it in another place. The other front bearing says PNOL07DB with the PNO and DB in the different font. So in trying to see if we can get replacement bearings it is very difficult to see if anything is available to match them. I found a New Departure 3206, never used and cheap but I can't find L07. Also the PNOL07DB bearing has a flange on it. Those two bearings were mounted back to back with their part numbers facing out. I attached some photos to help try to make sense of it.
Any recommendations on whether we should just try cleaning it up and reassembling with the old bearings or try to find new bearings? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
I'm an amateur machinist and a bamboo fly rod maker. We (my brother-in-law and I) have an old Elgin Toolworks lathe (2 actually) from about 1920 that we use for many operations. One has recently developed what seemed like bad bearings or some debris had gotten in between the rotating spindle and the castings so we were forced to disassemble the headstock and bearings to at least clean it up and see what the problem was. After getting the spindle completely disassembled it appears the bearings may be OK but never having done this it's hard for us to tell. The bearings are New Departure 3206 for the rear and New Departure L07 as a pair on the front. The odd thing is that there appears to be a prefix and suffix that looks like it was added later (by Elgin maybe?). The rear bearing is PT3206 with the PT in a completely different font appearing to be hand printed. The front bearings say POL07DBL with the PO and DBL in the different font. It also has a W on it in another place. The other front bearing says PNOL07DB with the PNO and DB in the different font. So in trying to see if we can get replacement bearings it is very difficult to see if anything is available to match them. I found a New Departure 3206, never used and cheap but I can't find L07. Also the PNOL07DB bearing has a flange on it. Those two bearings were mounted back to back with their part numbers facing out. I attached some photos to help try to make sense of it.
Any recommendations on whether we should just try cleaning it up and reassembling with the old bearings or try to find new bearings? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.