Eld Schiff surface grinder help needed

Got a chap in Perth with an Elb Schiff surface grinder with problems, anyway I will let the email I got do the talking, if anyone has any ideas on what to do or who in Oz might be able to help..

O.K, RC .. here's a curly one for ya .. I got a mate rebuilding an ELB-Schliff surface grinder .. and the spindle rear bearing is farked beyond belief.

Where do you get a replacement bearing for something like this?? .. at a cost that doesn't need an overdraft??

(It's the bronze bushing to the left of his hand, in the first pic. It's a multiple-split, steel-backed bronze, tapered bushing that is tightened on the spindle, by the worm-drive helical gear you can see, that is threaded onto the steel section of the bushing. When the gear is screwed up, it pulls the split bushing tighter in its tapered hole, to tighten the clearance on the spindle. The RH side is a similar deal, but that bushing is O.K.).

This thing runs on such tight tolerances, it uses kerosene as a lubricant for the bronze bushings. The clearance is currently about 1-1.5 mm, when screwed right up.

I find companies in the US and UK rebuilding entire spindle assemblies, and selling new spindle assemblies .. but the freight alone would be worth as much as the grinder.

We're looking for a local repair option .. or some crowd that supplies parts for ELB-Schliff. You got any ideas??

The kerosene was what trashed the spindle, you shouldn't have 1.0-1.5 mm wear in a 150 years of use that grinder would have used something like velicite #3 for lubrication. As for repairs you can make the parts or find another grinder for parts. Parts like that you don't find laying around when the machine was in it's prime you would order parts from the manufacture nobody stocked parts other than the builder.

elb

was moving machines today and snapped pics. indeed the ELB grinder calls for kerosene as spindle lube. see pics-magnified.
i have not used my elb but worry is a rear seal failed on the machine in question. that combined with cloudy sight glass and no relay to shut machine down when kerosene level drops would take out rear shoes with their belt loading.

http://picasaweb.google.com/pulsenpal/Tools#5375926391954311746

jh

Someone wanted to see the missing photo's. So that is the reason for the thread necromancy.

Did the guy get it fixed? Is he actually using kerosene for a lubricant? I have to say that sounds like a real bad idea to me also. Is there some sort of documentation supporting that? Doesn't seem like there would be much lubricity nor boundary layer for protection. I could see that wearing out real quick, a little more at every cold start.

I've worked on Elb Surface Grinders and yes they use Kerosene to lube the spindles. They are notorious for a lousy lube system. In many of the early models they used a small hole in the way-lube system filter out the debris on way-lube and failed to realize when the hole got plugged up the lube too the ways stopped.

I just checked the new for a manual and could not find a free one. Lathes UK elb has a PDF for 65.00 pounds

From the picture it looks like it has a bronze bushing, You may have to turn another. Maybe use a Genuine Oilite Sintered Bronze Metric Flanged Sleeve Bearing? We have a member in Austria who is a Professional Machine rebuilder who might be able to help. They work weekends so they might answer an email. I'll email them and ask them to comment on this thread. Maschratur - Maschratur Schaben & Maschinenservice there name on here is Maschratur

I emailed Franz and Stefan and hopefully they will answer the thread. They are the people in Austria who are now teaching my scraping classes in Europe.

Unfortunately we only have a description in German, but the pictures show the structure of the spindle bearing very well (3 point bearing).

This spindle is lubricated with kerosene, the kerosene is sucked out of the sump through a small pipe into the bearing.
This only works if the bearings are in good condition and correctly adjusted (approx. 0.01mm / 0.0004" clearance).

We have already rebuild such spindles a few times, and that is quite time-consuming, because finaly the bearings must be lapped in mounted position.

If a new bearing were even available, it would have to be prepared to match the spindle and then lapped in mounted position
If you can't find anyone who has done this successfully before, it will be difficult to get the spindle running again
But I hope there has been a solution to this problem in the past 12 years :-)

Spare parts for ELB grinding machines can be ordered from the following companies (in Europe).
https://www.elb-schliff.com/

Geibel & Hotz - Hersteller von Schleifmaschinen




Franz

"The clearance is currently about 1-1.5 mm". Not likely! Sounds like the metric devil struck again. May be 0.015 / 0.01mm.
Read previous post:"approx. 0.01mm / 0.0004" clearance".