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Ideal Home Shop Mill To Own?

Question.... On the spindle bearings the two that are in the quill seem to me to be in good shape the two that are up top in the pully assembly seem "okay".... but since I have them out should I remove the old grease and repack it or if its not broke don't fix it? Also attached is my progress on the ways. I cut a wedge out of scrap hardwood that fit into the way and went to town as mentioned above with steel wool and lots of elbow grease
 

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I'd definitely clean the bearings and do a good inspection on them. If you see any damage, best to just replace them. If they look very good, regrease and run 'em.
 
Michael,
you've really got things shaping up!!
I failed to mention earlier, but you may want to do a little research on Electrolysis Rust Removal for the round steel Ram tube.(steel parts only) I've cleaned a steel column on an ACME blade grinder some years back and used a 12v battery charger, scotchbrite, and a liquid solution of water/washing soda or baking soda (I think???) Will give a call about that part! You clamp the saturated scotchbrite to charger lead and prob it around the tube. The reverse polarity will draw the rust particles out. Slow, but it works great! Unfortunately, it will also damage the clamp, but thats an easy retro.
 
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Bearing question. In researching for replacement bearings it is my my understanding that the original bearings that are double up had their inner racers ground a smidge so that when they are installed you could get a kind of preload on the bearings...? I believe others have placed a shim with bearings that dont have the inner race ground onto the outer race to achieve the same effect. Is this necessary? Also I believe others have upgraded to angular bearings. I thought this would be something simple as just buying same # bearing that I pulled out but now I believe these might of already been replaced. This is what I have pulled out

MRC 107KSF "DS" the MRC 107KS is factory stamped in, the "DS" was etched in my hand.
Upper Pully Doubled up Bearings: MRC 107KSF "DS" the MRC 107KS is factory stamped in, the "DS" was etched in my hand.
Center Bearing: R16Z
Bottom Doubled up Bearings: 6008ZE C3 NACHI
6008ZE C3 NACHI

Should I order the above and be good with that?
Are their other brand or style bearing that would be a better replacement?
Do I need to even worry about the shimming of the bearings?

Thanks,
 
Bearing question. In researching for replacement bearings it is my my understanding that the original bearings that are double up had their inner racers ground a smidge so that when they are installed you could get a kind of preload on the bearings...? I believe others have placed a shim with bearings that dont have the inner race ground onto the outer race to achieve the same effect. Is this necessary? Also I believe others have upgraded to angular bearings. I thought this would be something simple as just buying same # bearing that I pulled out but now I believe these might of already been replaced. This is what I have pulled out

MRC 107KSF "DS" the MRC 107KS is factory stamped in, the "DS" was etched in my hand.
Upper Pully Doubled up Bearings: MRC 107KSF "DS" the MRC 107KS is factory stamped in, the "DS" was etched in my hand.
Center Bearing: R16Z
Bottom Doubled up Bearings: 6008ZE C3 NACHI
6008ZE C3 NACHI

Should I order the above and be good with that?
Are their other brand or style bearing that would be a better replacement?
Do I need to even worry about the shimming of the bearings?

Thanks,

Yes, the preload is important on the bearings by the cutting tool. On the 6008s the C3 is the internal clearance in the bearing. The MRC 107 you don't need to worry about so much, nor the R16.
 
Light oil seems to work best.

And, if you have ever scraped a machine, you will appreciate how hard it is to remove any significant material from a largish surface, even one dovetail way. I can do a scraping pass, complete with a pile of chips, and the mic reveals a minute change, a tenth or two.

I've tried to work down a small surface with 400 grit and 600 grit "wet or dry" sandpaper, and it took forever to get a tenth off of it.

I'd not worry too much about abrasives. The rust already took off an "uncontrolled" amount of what the hobby forums like to call "the precious precision surface". What you have is what you have, and you cannot damage it measurably even rubbing with fine sandpaper.

Rust is an abrasive. Remove it with whatever hand means you can (no power tools). Then see what you have.
Electricians have such a different way of looking at the world.
Thanks for keeping credence in the stereotype alive Jerry.

-D
 
Electricians have such a different way of looking at the world.
Thanks for keeping credence in the stereotype alive Jerry.

-D
Happy I could please you.

But the stereotype must have support from elsewhere, I am not an electrician.

Point out the fault, and I will listen..... but good luck finding a fault.
 
This is really coming along. You are a hard worker. I'm not familiar with the spindle on this machine but typically the bearings that 'do the work' are the angular contact pair that are closest to the cutting tool. If those are a pair, and run with outer and inner races in contact (and here I am just guessing from your brief description) then the preload is 'built into the set' and is what it is. Be sure they go back in place in the same orientation and try to avoid 'pressing through the balls' when assmbling or disassembling.

You can determine the state of those once the spindle is back together. *If* a preloaded pair then there should be zero lash side-to-side and zero play up-and-down. Often high mileage angular contact pairs will have the preload wear out of them over time. Honestly given the state of the lube in the bearings shown in the photo (pretty darn good, and pretty darn clean) it's possible a gentle clean with solvent and re-greasing will do the job fine.

1) do not ultrasonic those.
2) do not spin them with air
3) do not over-grease them. You need less grease than you think.
 
Thank you again for all your help. I have been doing some research and believe the original were deep grove ball bearings. I believe the below will be an upgrade to what was in the spindle originally. Moving away from the Deep grove bearings to the angular bearings.

Unless anyone says otherwise or sees any issues I believe I will purchase them.

$150 NSK 7008CTYNSULP4 Abec7 Matched set. (closest to the cutter head)
$120 NSK 7007CTYNSULP4 Abec7 Matched set. (in the pully assembly)

I am learning about preload and my assumption is, I may not get it perfect but it will be better than the deep grove bearings, as long as I don't over do it.

Also what grease do you recommend for use with the bearings?

Thanks,
 
Unless anyone says otherwise or sees any issues I believe I will purchase them.

$150 NSK 7008CTYNSULP4 Abec7 Matched set. (closest to the cutter head)
$120 NSK 7007CTYNSULP4 Abec7 Matched set. (in the pully assembly)
I may be wrong here.

In my opinion these bearings are overkill. This would be like me putting $2000 racing tires on my little Prius. Your mill spindle isn't rigid enough, new enough, or running fast enough to need ABEC 7 bearings.

I would clean the existing bearings, inspect for damage, re-grease, and see how they feel.
  • Soak the old bearings overnight in kerosene, mineral spirits, Coleman fluid, etc., to remove the old grease. Give them an occasional swish in the solvent.
  • Gently blow the bearing dry without spinning the inner race.
  • Repeat the soak with clean solvent.
  • Fill the bearing about 1/4-1/3 full with grease.
If the existing bearings feel smooth, go with them. If still they feel rough or notchy after greasing, purchase replacements.

Save your money for good cutters and quality raw material. Those will give you a better bang for your buck.


Tom
 
If you replace any of them, do the ones closest to the spindle, which from your description are a back-to-back pair. Photos of the layout would be good.
 
Okay I think I will replace only the lower two bearings next to the cutter as the ones that I pulled out I don't believe are the original and I don't want to worry about having to create shims and such. The others I will attempt a thorough cleaning and inspection and go from there. With that being said what grease do you recommend? Some form of kluber? Attached is a pic of how its setup. Bottom three are around the spindle in the quill. The top two are in the pully assembly. Quill slides into the pully assembly via the splines.

Thanks,
 

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OK the lower angular contact pair do all the work. I believe you could replace the uppers with 'electric motor grade' ones if the originals show any issues. The preload in the lower pair is built in if the inner races are clamped together on the spindle and the outers are clamped together in thr quill recess. Those could be abec 7s if you have the money to put at it. These really need to be assembled with good cleanliness and don't press through the balls as you do it.
 
I agree that there is definitely no reason to get crazy with the upper and middle bearings, said that in my first post about the bearings. Replacing them is fine if you want to do it while you're in there, the normal deep groove or "electric motor grade" bearings are pretty cheap in comparison to precision bearings. It sounds like a good set of angular contact bearings would be an upgrade over factory original but I don't know if the machine's spindle, etc. are rigid enough to take advantage; I'll leave that to someone more familiar with these specific machines.
 
Just incase anyone was curious where I am at with the project!

I have a set or R8 collets that came with the machine but no tooling really for the machine. I have one random endmill that came with the lathe.

What do you guys recommend for tooling to by? Brands and where to buy it??? Kind of like the basic tooling to get me by?

Amazon, ebay stuff any good?

Thanks,
 

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Good job Michael, craigslist and facebook marketplace,(and here obviously) can be all be good sources of obtaining tooling at a bargain. You can get carried away buying things, but in reality, if this is for a home shop, what do you actually need to do basic machining? Buy quality when you can at a rate that you can afford. Jim Here is one suggestion. I bought one myself and it seems like a well made tool. (that company has quite a bit of different tooling and I believe you can buy direct rather than amazon) : https://www.amazon.ca/Accusize-Carb...35ed5&pd_rd_wg=yygN6&pd_rd_i=B00HQMXSM2&psc=1
 
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