Thread: Replacing Spindle Bearings

Yes - thanks GWH74
That thread was extremely illuminating. it fits with what I found out yesterday about the bearings being 'plain steel - made in China'.

I guess that they will also have some exotic meaning regarding ;2 year warranty;.
probably mean that the spindle will still exist (in some state) after 2 years, or some such garbage.

Oh well - offf to SKF this am - let you all know how I go.

Cheers

Noel

I am ready to be proven wrong but I still believe that my "LoveHappy" air cooled spindle has ceramic hybrid bearings.

Had it for a year and half and it is still singing along like new. Certainly many times 25 hours use.

I will have no hesitation buying another when the need arises.

Noel, I hope you are able to source some bearings at reasonable cost.

Greg

Originally Posted by Greolt

I am ready to be proven wrong but I still believe that my "LoveHappy" air cooled spindle has ceramic hybrid bearings.

Had it for a year and half and it is still singing along like new. Certainly many times 25 hours use.

I will have no hesitation buying another when the need arises.

Noel, I hope you are able to source some bearings at reasonable cost.

Greg

Hi, greg it might be the new models with the cheap bearings, I guess it accounts for the price dropping so much, even I remember the 1.5KW watercooled spindle w/vfd cost me ~$700 a few years back now you can get the spindles and vfd for under $400.

Do you remember if the ebay ad had the german remark on it?

AMAZING - I thought that I was too old and world-weary to be amazed by anything anymore, but I have to seriously examine that idea.

Went to SKF to price replacement bearings. Took along the rotor/shaft and the old bearings. They had several things to say.

1. According to the person at SKF, the bearings in the spindle were fairly simple 'metal'bearings, and he thought that they were not really suitable for the job. Said that they would not carry sufficient side-load for very long. Did agree with Greg, that if the spindle had been fitted with ceramic hybrid bearings, they would probably still be humming along without any hiccups.

2. Offered me a set of 'high speed' replacement bearings which he said would be his recommendation, considering the spindle and the type of work I was trying to do (nothing really heavy, and not for extreme lengths of time).

He should have offered me a chair - each bearing (and consider that there are three bearings in the spindle) - each bearing was more than $100.00. A grand total of more than $300.00.

At that rate, it is a much better proposition to simply grin and bear it, and buy another spindle from Love-happy. I can get another one, delivered to my door, for less than $300.00 all up. Guess it just goes to show.

3. The person at SKF did not have an actual costing for ceramic/hybridd bearings, but said that they would be much more expensive, so I told him not to even bother looking up the price.

Whew!!!!!

I guess the other option is to fit a set of cheap metal bearings again - this would be a fair bit cheaper, but I am very íffy' about pulling the spindle apart too often.

Next step is to wait and see what Aaron from Love-happy has to say about his 'two year warranty'. (Yeh - live in hope).

Cheers

Noel

I have got a total of seven of the spindle/vfd setups from MS Motors, Chai and Lovehappy. Out of these only one had ceramic bearing and it is easy to tell. You can't earth through the spindle for the touchplate if it has ceramic bearings. The ceramic bearing jobs are much quiter than the steel bearing jobs and it looks like the luck of the draw as to what you get.

I did some reading over the weekend and it appear the cheaper steel bearings are only rated to around 14,000 RPM. Slightly better quality will yield 18,000 RPM and this is intersting as I remember some of these units being advertised at 18,000RPM and not 24,000.
Ceramic bearings can be had for $110 from VBX or you can get the steel cheapies for $10. I could be slightly out on prices as I looked at a few sites trying to get the best deal.

Noel I would weight up getting another unit in preference to replacing bearings. If you buy a new one then 50 hours later you will be dipping again in your pocket. Hopefully a good set of bearings for around the same price will deliver longer service. At the least a set of cheap bearing for around $50 delivered will provide you a backup spindle.

As a matter of comparison my 800 watt unit has done 175 hours on the Mach3 maintenance schedule still on the original steel bearings. I will replace these with ceramic when the time comes - it might be soon because I ran a few tests and the spindle has vibration and some noise in the bearings at mid range speeds - could have been there from new but time will tell.

Just something else to consider is a good quality 1/4 inch die grinder I would get around 300-400 hrs before brushes and bearing are required. On the other scale an Ozito 1/4 inch router about 50 hrs on average.
I would have expected much better from a spindle with an induction motor.

Rod

as usual, you make a lot of sense.

I looked up VXD but only got an American site. Is this where you get yours from, or is there an Australian distributor?

Also - do you have a part number for the ceramic bearings by any chance?

I like your idea of getting another spindle, AND a set of ceramic bearings so that I have a back-up.

Cheers

Noel

Check out VBX

This example is highly unlikely to be the bearing you want but it is hybrid ceramic and only $15,

61904 Ceramic Bearing 20x37x9:Openall Bearings

At the top end are full ceramic at about $100.

61904 Full Ceramic Bearing 20x37x9 Silicon Nitrideall Bearings

My point being, that the correct size and type might be a lot cheaper here.

Greg

EDIT: If a new spindle is $300 but comes with cheap bearings then I think I would rather spend some money on good bearings.

Hi Noel / Greg
The bearing I was looking at is a 25 X 47 X12 Angular contact ceramic. I picked this size after following the CNCZone thread by Eloid. It could be totally wrong size so obviously check your bearings first
Here is a pair of them for $220 US

Is the top bearing on the spindle angular contact? I suspect it would be a deep groove as there is no need to have angualr contacts up the top. If so that will be heaps cheaper.

I agree Greg local is better and you would get name brand bearings but you would have to get off first tier pricing to make it competitive.

As a matter of interest do you grease ceramic bearings or do they run dry??

Hi
Some time ago when I worked at an engineering firm it was normal for bearing companies to have a retail price on which they would offer discounts of about 66% to businesses. I would not be surprised to find that practice still exists. My advice therefore would be to price these same bearings from an overseas source. I have no doubts at all that you can achieve huge discounts on the prices that you have been quoted.

Bob

Set of 10 bearings for $30

Full ceramic angular contact bearings at $114 each

Well - it just goes to show - I am going to have to revise my outlook on people.

Received a reply from Aoron Bai at "Love Happy" who said that because of the problems caused by the bearings in my spindle, he would sell me a new spindle at cost price.

He has offered me a new 1.5kw air-cooled spindle for US$180.00 - This includes freight charges.

I thought that this was a very generous offer, considering it would have cost me quite a few $$$ to ship the old spindle back to him for a warranty claim.

He also still claims that these spindles have German bearings, and that they should run for many hours without trouble.

The short of it is that I am very happy with his response, and would steer future clients to him for spindles, etc.

I will now get a replacement set of bearings for my old spindle, and that way, have a spare should any further issues appear.

(ps: Perhaps knowing that the cost price of these spindles is under $180, there may be some room for negotiation for future purchasers???)


Cheers

Noel

Freight on these spindles is normally $80 - $90 so that means that his cost is about $100 per spindle and he normally sells them for $210 + freight

Well I am really blown away.

Just received my new spindle from Aoran at 'Love-Happy'- only took four days from China.

This must be some sort of record - Living in South Australia I am used to waiting for up to ten days for things to come from Melbourne, Sydney, or Perth. (Actually, a bit quicker from Brisbane - must be something to do with the tropics???).

anyway - I am delighted, and would recommend 'Love-happy"to anyone. great service - and in this instance - good support for their 'warranty'claims.

Now to source some ceramic bearings for my other spindle.

Cheers

Noel