The replacement of bearings

[JackJack]

Hi,

I am the proud owner of a Woodfast 305 midi lathe, less the a year ago it started making a wicked noise that alarmed me enormously! It visited carbatec and following a few short nights and was returned in pristine condition, sounding as quiet as new. I was informed that the bearings required replacing.

In the last few days, a similar noise has returned, is it right that the bearings may require replacing less then annually?!? Are there risks that I should be aware of if I were to replace them myself, what size should I buy, can you get better quality etc, are there any pitfalls or hiccups to look out for?

Any information or directional advice would enormously appreciated.

Thanks,
Nick

[China]

It all depends on how you use it heavy duty use over and obove what it was desiged for will obviously be hard on things like bearings, however with it's normal and intended use I do not think it should need bearings every 12 months, more like every 3-5 years with costant use. The old Woodfast machines would go 10 years on a set of bearings!. I would give Woodfast a call and see if they can help

[Avery]

My M305 is at least 4 years old and still runs as smooth as new. It is a hobby machine but gets used just about every day.

I cannot imagine why you would chew out bearings in such a short time.

I have never bothered to look to see how the bearings are mounted in the headstock, but it should be a fairly simple matter to replace them. At worst, it would mean removing the headstock and having the bearings pressed out . Once they are out, any bearing shop will be able to measure them and supply excellent replacements.


Are you sure it is not something else making the noise? perhaps a worn belt or maybe the index pin contacting the shaft.

Are you sure it is in the headstock and not the live centre in the tailstock?
Maybe the motor?

It just seems strange to wear out bearings.

[vk4]

I agree with the previous posts , bearings should last years, I had an MC900, and I never touched the bearings in the 6+ years I owned it , and it did a lot of work.

I would inspect the machine and If you are not mech minded take it to someone you trust who is..

Jeff

[pjt]

"normal" life for sealed ball bearings should be well in excess of 1 year, would be more like 5/10/20 year kinda time frame, abnormal conditions will knacker bearings pretty quick tho, abnormal might be high temp environment where the grease melts and runs out of the bearing then runs dry and failing, in your machine it could be more like the machining tolerances are outside of what they should be, for e.g. shaft size is too large which then reduces the clearance in the bearings and if it is reduced to no clearance it wont take long to fail, also there isn't a lot of grease in a bearing from new, bit of a dab and that's it,
See what the suppliers/manufacturers will do for you cause less than a year is no good.


Pete

[hughie]

normal" life for sealed ball bearings should be well in excess of 1 year, would be more like 5/10/20 year kinda time frame, abnormal conditions will knacker bearings pretty quick tho, abnormal might be high temp environment where the grease melts and runs out of the bearing then runs dry and failing, in your machine it could be more like the machining tolerances are outside of what they should be, for e.g. shaft size is too large which then reduces the clearance in the bearings and if it is reduced to no clearance it wont take long to fail, also there isn't a lot of grease in a bearing from new, bit of a dab and that's it,
See what the suppliers/manufacturers will do for you cause less than a year is no good.


Pretty well sums it up, unless they have whacked the shields when installing the bearings and or there is a misalignment from day one. ie a machining problem. I would questioning Carbatec on that one. Life span would similar to your wheel bearings, scratch your head to try and remember when they were done last.

Jack, I am in Sydney if you need someone to have a look at it, pm me, oh! and your suburb :U

[jimbur]

Pretty well sums it up, unless they have whacked the shields when installing the bearings and or there is a misalignment from day one. ie a machining problem. I would questioning Carbatec on that one. Life span would similar to your wheel bearings, scratch your head to try and remember when they were done last.
Good comparison Hughie. I'd ask advice from Woodfast first.
Woodfast Machinery Co. (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. - (http://www.woodfast.com.au/index.php?p=1_5)
Cheers,
Jim

[hughie]

I'd ask advice from Woodfast first.
Woodfast Machinery Co. (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. - (http://www.woodfast.com.au/index.php?p=1_5)


Fair enough Jim. :2tsup:

[JackJack]

Thanks everyone for your words of wisdom. I would not say that I have been excessive with use or pushed the machine to it's limit. The sound is present if using the chuck, face plate or mandrel.
From my initial investigations the belt and indexing pin appear in good working order.
I will have a closer look, start with Woodfast before imposing (thanks Hughie)

Regards,
Nick

[quercus]

There are bearings, and then there are bearings. If you don't specify Japanese, you may end up with cheap Chinese. Couple that with a rough installation you may get problems developing rapidly. Bearing Wholesalers just seem to assume you want to save peanuts, when the cost of getting the buggers out and back in is by far the biggest cost.

[rsser]

Yep.

And some are sealed; some are not. With wood dust around the choice is obvious.

If they're tapered roller bearings you may just need to cinch up a nut.

If they're ball bearings held in a cage, they bed in and often then need a little tightening - that was the case with the Stubby when I replaced the bearings and with the motorbike headstock bearings.

[orificiam]

I've had the same lathe for over 2 years without problems, the only time it gets noisy is if i don't close the belt cover properly, or the belt isn't tight enough.

Cheers Tony.:)

[cookie48]

You might find woodfast will tell you that if you got it from carbatec get them to fix it. I bought one 12 months ago and have not had any problems with it.

[Tim the Timber Turner]

The Woodfast 305 suffers from a bit of a design fault in that the holes in the spindle that receive the indexing pin, are located on a ring that is grub screwed to the spindle.

If this ring comes loose it makes a noise like crook bearings.

I'd check this first before any replacing bearings.

Access is by removing the switch on the front of the headstock.

Remove the power source and loosen the power cable gland nuts on the rear of the headstock.

Remove the switch mounting screws to give access to the ring.

Just pull the switch forward to gain access, you don't need to disconect any wires.

Rotate the shaft to locate and tighten the grub screw. A torch helps. A bit of Locktight is a good idea (superglue in a pinch).

If it damaged or comes loose again consider removing the spindle and drilling and tapping the grub screw to a larger size.

Steve from Woodfast showed me this fix.

Cheers Tim:)