Peter F
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2004
- Location
- Mittagong Australia
Investigating a bit of noise in the vertical head on my Circa 1965 Ser#37843. I have the operators manual with a drawing of the spindle assembly and this corresponds pretty much to what I have. At some stage in the mills life the spindle has been dismantled as evidenced by there being one 1/4" ball missing from the top thrust race, as there are 16 balls in the race probably no harm done leaving one out!
The lubrication instructions for the head specify OIL, once a week through a nipple on the spindle shroud . the drawing of the assembly shows 2 ball races locating the vertical bevel gear, On dismantling the assembly the top bearing is a ********* 6008zz P6 bearing and the lower one is a ********* 6008 P6, no shields. Does anyone know if these bearings, top one with two shields, bottom one no shields are correct? The drawing in the manual does not specify the two bearings and doesn't seem to show shields.
The set up as it is allows oil to pass through the top bearing, in a sort of controlled manner and duly lubricates the bottom bearing, gravitates to the back of the bevel gear and then on to the teeth of both bevels, wends its way down to lubricate the body of the spindle housing.
The spindle bearing lubrication system seems to be by way of the key way slot, the driving key has a groove machined in it to allow oil to pass the key and go down to the top thrust bearing, continue to the bottom thrust and finally to the needle race at the bottom.
With all of this in mind it would seem to rule out the use of grease on the thrust balls and the needle bearings as it would be simply washed off by the oil over time. Likewise the shielded top bearing in the bevel gear assembly would also have its grease eventually replaced by oil. Likewise any grease used on the bevel gears would eventually be washed off by oil. On dismantling the head there was no evidence of grease on the gears, the gears are in pretty well new condition so perhaps grease has either washed off or was never used.
However, there was an accumulation of very fine debris in the body of the housing and the only place it could have come from is the top shielded bevel bearing, the bottom one seems to be good but as the shielded one can't be inspected visually without ruining one shield I suspect it may be the cause of the noise. The nut, L/H was very very tight, I had to make a pin spanner with long handles and strong arms to move it and as the this nut can give preload to the bearings the tracks or balls have probably started to spall.
So, What I would like to know is what would the correct bevel gear bearings be and are P6 bearings really necessary here?. If sealed bearings were originally supplied grease would be necessary for the bevel gears, if so, what type of grease?
Cheers, Peter.
The lubrication instructions for the head specify OIL, once a week through a nipple on the spindle shroud . the drawing of the assembly shows 2 ball races locating the vertical bevel gear, On dismantling the assembly the top bearing is a ********* 6008zz P6 bearing and the lower one is a ********* 6008 P6, no shields. Does anyone know if these bearings, top one with two shields, bottom one no shields are correct? The drawing in the manual does not specify the two bearings and doesn't seem to show shields.
The set up as it is allows oil to pass through the top bearing, in a sort of controlled manner and duly lubricates the bottom bearing, gravitates to the back of the bevel gear and then on to the teeth of both bevels, wends its way down to lubricate the body of the spindle housing.
The spindle bearing lubrication system seems to be by way of the key way slot, the driving key has a groove machined in it to allow oil to pass the key and go down to the top thrust bearing, continue to the bottom thrust and finally to the needle race at the bottom.
With all of this in mind it would seem to rule out the use of grease on the thrust balls and the needle bearings as it would be simply washed off by the oil over time. Likewise the shielded top bearing in the bevel gear assembly would also have its grease eventually replaced by oil. Likewise any grease used on the bevel gears would eventually be washed off by oil. On dismantling the head there was no evidence of grease on the gears, the gears are in pretty well new condition so perhaps grease has either washed off or was never used.
However, there was an accumulation of very fine debris in the body of the housing and the only place it could have come from is the top shielded bevel bearing, the bottom one seems to be good but as the shielded one can't be inspected visually without ruining one shield I suspect it may be the cause of the noise. The nut, L/H was very very tight, I had to make a pin spanner with long handles and strong arms to move it and as the this nut can give preload to the bearings the tracks or balls have probably started to spall.
So, What I would like to know is what would the correct bevel gear bearings be and are P6 bearings really necessary here?. If sealed bearings were originally supplied grease would be necessary for the bevel gears, if so, what type of grease?
Cheers, Peter.