Thread: Vicmarc VL300 headstock bearings

Make sure you well and truely pack grease into the bearings, if you don’t know how to, look it up

Yeah local bearing supplier showed me how, new tub of grease to go with it

Originally Posted by DJ’s Timber

You still have to replace the outer cone as well, not just the bearing, in case you didn’t know.

How have others removed these?

Originally Posted by delbs

How have others removed these?

From the photo that shows inside the headstock, there are two notches that give access to the back of the bearing cup ( the outer part is called the “cup” the inner part with the rollers, is called the “cone” ). You need a long punch that can reach through the opposite side hole, put the end of the punch in one of the notches and give it a hit with a hammer, move the punch to the other notch and hit again, keep alternating with each hit and you will walk the bearing cup out.
Be careful when you are putting the new cups in, the factory would use a press to put them in, but unless you have access to that sort of gear , you will be knocking them back in with a hammer and punch. Don’t use a hardened punch to do this, or you risk damaging your new cup. A brass rod would be good if you have one, otherwise a mild steel rod will do.
Make sure you knock it in evenly, it’s easy to get it cocked when you are starting it.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

From the photo that shows inside the headstock, there are two notches that give access to the back of the bearing cup ( the outer part is called the “cup” the inner part with the rollers, is called the “cone” ). You need a long punch that can reach through the opposite side hole, put the end of the punch in one of the notches and give it a hit with a hammer, move the punch to the other notch and hit again, keep alternating with each hit and you will walk the bearing cup out.
Be careful when you are putting the new cups in, the factory would use a press to put them in, but unless you have access to that sort of gear , you will be knocking them back in with a hammer and punch. Don’t use a hardened punch to do this, or you risk damaging your new cup. A brass rod would be good if you have one, otherwise a mild steel rod will do.
Make sure you knock it in evenly, it’s easy to get it cocked when you are starting it.

even better to use a bearing puller if you have one to extract the cups. Requires a solid flat bar (40 x 6 mm or similar) to straddle the head stock spindle housing.

TOLEDO 100mm Twin Leg Mechanical Puller 222040 | Total Tools

Thanks for your replies, I don’t have a long punch so will need to source one like that but have seen vicmarc tap it out the way your describing so i can give that a go. I do have a bearing puller though so I can figure out how to use this in the headstock

Cheers
Nathan

A trick for seating the new bearing cups is to cut a slot through the old one using an angle grinder with a thin cutting disk. Use this to drive the new one in & because of the slot it won't be tight, so you can remove it easily afterwards.

I think I might have given you a bumm steer on the punch method. I obviously didn’t look at all the pictures, there is just a single notch on each side, and it doesn’t give access to the back edge of the bearing. Looks like you will probably need a bearing puller.

The hearing pullers I can see the claws are facing the opposite direction to what I need

Seems a rod with a large enough washer would be able to get in behind and a slow tap going from down and then up on the opposite face of the bearing cup can notch it out if that makes sense

The video that Vicmarc made with their cup replacement tool is good but can’t find that tool actually for sale anywhere so a rod with a washer and light taps should set it free

Alternatively a local I can take my headstock to that has a press etc would be good also

Originally Posted by delbs

The hearing pullers I can see the claws are facing the opposite direction to what I need

Seems a rod with a large enough washer would be able to get in behind and a slow tap going from down and then up on the opposite face of the bearing cup can notch it out if that makes sense

The video that Vicmarc made with their cup replacement tool is good but can’t find that tool actually for sale anywhere so a rod with a washer and light taps should set it free

Alternatively a local I can take my headstock to that has a press etc would be good also

With bearing pullers, and particularly the more comprehensive kits, you can generally swap the arms / legs / claws around to the configuration you want.

I would suggest you search for "Inner Race Bearing Puller".

These have an expanding head that is designed to pull out the bearing cup. If you drop into almost any motor mechanic type of establishment, they should have one.

https://p.globalsources.com/IMAGES/P...Puller-Set.jpg

I have one with a sliding hammer thingy, works a treat. Not as elaborate a kit as what I've linked to, but the link will give you the gist of how they work.

Mick.

Well that increased the price of a bearing puller lol I’ve re assembled the existing bearings with existing cups and new grease but something musnt be aligned as I thought.

Will replace bearing into existing cups/sleeves without replacing and just repack grease and try again

Right well, bit of an adjustment of the threaded nut I hear a bit of a rattle at lower speed but once I increase it’s smooth as butter sounds great.

Real test will be larger blank being mounted to see if knocking comes back

contacted Vicmarc directly and purchased the tool set as seen in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCt5aNtT_H0

was $70 so will be useful for any future maintenance tasks for the Vl300 or other series i may own. After all this is my forever lathe so worth the investment in my eyes