Thread: old Woodfast lathe bearing upgrade help needed

Hi Tankstand, & Others,
Now I have A "Tough Lathe", & if the Woodfast is anything like the Tough, then you bring up the Tail Stock, really tighten it to the bed, put a piece of wood between the T/S ( With no tail centre of course ) & wind it out Backwards.
I dare say you have given it a good spray with some kind of moving substance.
I have some Loctite Freeze & Release. I find this works very well.
So when all else fails, ring Graham at Woodfast in SA, as they are sure to have the answer.
Regards,
issatree.
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Originally Posted by issatree

Now I have A "Tough Lathe", & if the Woodfast is anything like the Tough, then you bring up the Tail Stock, really tighten it to the bed, put a piece of wood between the T/S ( With no tail centre of course ) & wind it out Backwards.
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Don't think the Woodfasts do it the same way as the Toughs, Issatree. If I remember correctly, the shaft comes out towards the tailstock.


And, yes Rev, the nut on the tailstock side of the headstock is machined into the shaft.

One trick that Steve from Woodfast passed onto me was to run a dowel through the shaft before you remove it. That way you keep the pulley in position making it easier to reinserting the shaft after you have replaced the bearings/belt.

A tip from Robo is to add an additional belt while you have the shaft out. Will get you going again much quicker when the belt in use breaks... but depends on having enough room to hold the spare out of the way inside the headstock as there isn't a lot of spare room in some Woodfast models.

.....

an old trick used with fiat dozers and some other machinery , is when a fan belt needs to be changed ( pig of a job on those fiats ) you put 2 belts in there one in position and another spare wired up so it cant catch on anything then if you are in the bush and do a belt you have another in there that just has to be dropped onto the pulleys and your off and running
and if it were mine i would be making up a puller for removing that shaft .

Good luck with it. I am not looking forward to doing mine if and when needed.

Mine is 1965 6WL. year of manufacture is the last two digits of the number stamped on the bed - mine is stamped up near the headstock

I am going to try to pull it through using a long bolt or threaded rod through the hollow shaft captured on the left end against the shaft, and tightened against a spacer that protrudes past the end of the spindle on the bed end. i hope this makes sense. I will let you know how it goes, but won't be able to get to it before Saturday.

Hi All,
You Chaps really get a bloke thinking.
I've had my Tough since 1990, It has almost always sat on 3000 RPM.
I have never had a problem of any sort, & believe me It sure has done many, many Hours of work.
The one thing I do is to put some Molykote in the bearings when I think of it.
At the time I put Variable on it, I had a Hr. Meter that read some 579 Hrs. & it has done a heap more than that, so when the Electrician did the wiring, I forget to have it put back on. Silly me.

I really don't understand why there are so many Problems with all these Lathes.
Regards,
issatree.
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I really don't understand why there are so many Problems with all these Lathes.

Like most mechanical things, usage, maintenance etc all come into it and of the age of the bearing. Many of us buy second hand lathes and so the bearing condition and history is unknown, sorta like buying a pig and a poke.

Your using Molykote that has molybdenum disulphide in it, which one the slipperiest products known to man, and an excellent choice of lubrication. It will prolong your bearings on your lathe big time. What and how you grease your bearing has a great deal to do with how long they last. With some grease you can over grease and cause heat build and this can lead to premature bearing failure. Molybdenum disulphide greases have a high tolerance to heat build and if memory serves me well a good heat transfer as well.

All in all you probably could not have chosen a better type of grease with out going into some expensive high load, high temp, specialty grease.

Castrol Moly Grease

heres a bit of info on grease in general
http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp...es_B112520.pdf

Originally Posted by issatree

I really don't understand why there are so many Problems with all these Lathes.

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Depends a lot on what you turn on them.

Bearing replacement is what we are mainly talking about here. Pens and the like are going to be put little or no strain on an industrial quality bearing, whereas heavy 20"+ out of balance bowl blanks are going to give any bearing a hammering.

Got over 10,000 hours out of the bearings (greased type) on my old Woodfast and I turned quite a few pieces up to about 27" on that lathe. Can't complain about that!

Most secondhand Woodfasts are ex-schools or TAFE, plus a few ex-industrials. Their pre-use can vary widely. Some can be 'as new' old lathes and will be good for many years while others can be ready for a complete reconditioning overhaul. Hard to judge them without knowing their complete history.

But, no doubt Lewis the Tough is wonderful....

......

Most secondhand Woodfasts are ex-schools or TAFE, plus a few ex-industrials. Their pre-use can vary widely. Some can be 'as new' old lathes and will be good for many years while others can be ready for a complete reconditioning overhaul. Hard to judge them without knowing their complete history.

agreed I have an ex high school Woodfast and did wonder how often they used it. The bearings are as new, a few dings on the paint work other wise in excellent condition

Originally Posted by rev

Glad you said that Tankstand!

Rev.
First suggestion is to contact the manufacturer who should set you straight on what to do.
From my experience when all screws are removed from the pulley and I mean all because sometimes there is one below the other and we are talking the correct model as I believe there have been many, protect the outer thread and then hit hard with a solid metal hammer. Not rubber or similar. Often there is a burr left on the spindle where the grub screw locked onto it. It takes some moving.

Cheers
Edwards

Well, its finally done!

Edwards was spot on. It turned out to be 2 burrs on either side of the shaft where the grub screws had tightened down. I think what helped most was to warm up the pulley gently with a heat gun...things really starthed moving well then. The hammer rather than the mallet was also a good tip.

Thanks all for taking the time to respond with suggestions. Cheers

Well done Rev.

It's a good feeling when you get it apart and haven't broken anything!

Now you just need to source new bearings, and hopefully fit them by drawing them in.....Hitting with a hammer and punch (I kid you not) reduces the life span of a bearing by 50%.

Tankstand, it's interesting that our lathes have different size bearings though they appear to be the same model. Mine are 1.000 x 2.250 x 0.625 inch and there are 3 of them, 2 at the bed end. I have decided to replace the original ones because they are in excellent condition...no appreciable movement whatsoever, and it saves some money; besides, they are not a common size it seems. I think I'll use Slick 50 "ONE GREASE" which is white in colour, and leaves a PTFE risidual coating on the metal.

Originally Posted by rev

Tankstand, it's interesting that our lathes have different size bearings though they appear to be the same model. Mine are 1.000 x 2.250 x 0.625 inch.

My fault for assuming this

My lathe is older and pre-dates Woodfast. Mine is a Hyco, whom Woodfast bought out and continued using their casting moulds.

Honest injun, they look identicle!

No doubt they went for larger bearings.

You have inspired me to dismantle mine again and resolve my belt issues.