leeko
Stainless
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2012
- Location
- Chicago, USA
Originally posted this in antique machinery, but was recommended to post here instead.
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Hi everyone,
I cleaned up a van Norman 26 last year. When I first got it, the spindle was stiff to turn by hand and it was tripping the breaker at higher speeds. I took off the head and found it packed full of what I assumed was old dried grease, brown-red in colour and the consistency of clay. I scooped it all out, cleaned the casting out and reinstalled. Before reinstalling, I also cleaned out the oil passage from the ram to the head. There was a little of the same clay around that passage, but the channel itself seemed clean so I felt it unnecessary to go digging into the gear train. After reinstallation, I ran the mill with kerosene in both oil reservoirs (ram and knee) for approx 20 minutes, then drained and filled with hydraulic fluid. The issue seemed better, so I chalked it up as fixed and moved on.
I noticed a few months ago that the overcurrent fault was still tripping on the highest speed. I put it on the to-do list to look into, but in the meantime have been using it at lower speeds. Now, with the weather turning colder, the spindle is significantly harder to turn by hand and the VFD is now faulting even in the middle of the speed range.
I'm now thinking there may be some of the same gunk that was in the head, gumming up the gear train in the ram. I'm waiting for delivery of an inspection camera to take a good look in there. Has anyone been inside the ram of one of these? Or can suggest any other reasons for the stiff spindle? Spindle bearing preload nut too tight? IIRC, I had to play around with it some, because it was originally way too loose, then too tight, then seemed just right (in the warmer weather).
If the same Shmoo is found in the ram, is there a better solvent to use for cleaning it out, than kerosene? Assuming it didn't do the trick last time around...
Thanks in advance,
Lee
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
-----------------------------------
Hi everyone,
I cleaned up a van Norman 26 last year. When I first got it, the spindle was stiff to turn by hand and it was tripping the breaker at higher speeds. I took off the head and found it packed full of what I assumed was old dried grease, brown-red in colour and the consistency of clay. I scooped it all out, cleaned the casting out and reinstalled. Before reinstalling, I also cleaned out the oil passage from the ram to the head. There was a little of the same clay around that passage, but the channel itself seemed clean so I felt it unnecessary to go digging into the gear train. After reinstallation, I ran the mill with kerosene in both oil reservoirs (ram and knee) for approx 20 minutes, then drained and filled with hydraulic fluid. The issue seemed better, so I chalked it up as fixed and moved on.
I noticed a few months ago that the overcurrent fault was still tripping on the highest speed. I put it on the to-do list to look into, but in the meantime have been using it at lower speeds. Now, with the weather turning colder, the spindle is significantly harder to turn by hand and the VFD is now faulting even in the middle of the speed range.
I'm now thinking there may be some of the same gunk that was in the head, gumming up the gear train in the ram. I'm waiting for delivery of an inspection camera to take a good look in there. Has anyone been inside the ram of one of these? Or can suggest any other reasons for the stiff spindle? Spindle bearing preload nut too tight? IIRC, I had to play around with it some, because it was originally way too loose, then too tight, then seemed just right (in the warmer weather).
If the same Shmoo is found in the ram, is there a better solvent to use for cleaning it out, than kerosene? Assuming it didn't do the trick last time around...
Thanks in advance,
Lee
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
