Barnes gap bed shaft

Hi..
Have finally begun working on my #5 gap bed lathe..
I notice that a steel and aluminium thrust bearing has been placed on the rear of the spindle.. this moved the spindle forward until the bull gear was touching the headstock. allowance has then been made(with cold chisel and grinder) to allow the bull gear to turn.
The threaded brass bush has some play, so will need replacing..
Your thoughts ..
Ken

My first thought is that Hardinge used a ball thrust bearing at the left end of the headstock pulley from their first lathe in 1903, so it is a good idea. They did have a steel shell to cover the outside and keep it clean.

Larry

Car auto trannies use a much flatter /more compact thrust bearings with needle rollers in them....But I suppose the carving is done .

On my first Hardinge lathe, I found the ball thrust bearing at the left of the pulley and a fiber washer at the right end and there was an adjustment for end play. I found there was enough room to change the fiber washer to a Torrington needle thrust bearing and eliminate the tiny amount of end play in the spindle. Those bearings consist of the cage and needle assembly plus two hardened flat washers. The washers are made in several thicknesses and all the parts are sold individually. You have to make your own shield for the outer diameter. Back in the 1970's, the Torrington parts were cheap and I bought an assortment of diameters and washer thicknesses and have found other uses over the years. I would not use a Torrington for heavy loads, as are encountered in drilling from the tailstock. The right end of the pulley seldom sees any load and I just used it to eliminate end play.

A while back, the house painter I hired tipped me off to Bondo all-purpose putty.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Bondo-Sol...WNA2JBXRF3N&psc=1&refRID=TGF3HJGJ8WNA2JBXRF3N

It is a two-part filler that I found to be very easy to use and should be great for filling castings that will be repainted.

Larry

I would not use a Torrington for heavy loads, as are encountered in drilling from the tailstock.

Click to expand...

Automatic transmissions that handle 100's of ft/lbs of torque have smallish torringtons between the clutch packs. My impression was that they were fairly robust.

Just looking at a 1" torrington on McMaster. 3150lbs thrust load while turning seems pretty strong.

1" id
1 9/16" od
5/64" thickness
3,150lbs dynamic
12,100lbs static
7,500 Max rpm