Headstock bearings

[Enfield Guy]

Gidday

My recently acquired VL175 lathe has developed a bit of grumbling in the headstock bearings. I have decided to replace the bearings and belt now rather than wait for failure.

The bearings are only about $30.00 for the pair and the belt wont cost much so I might as well do it and not have to worry about it in the future. I gather that the outer cups of the tapered roller bearings will be in a blind housing, that is, they can't be knocked out with a drift. So, has anyone done this job themselves? If so, how did you go about removing and reinstalling the outer races?

Thanks
Bevan

[RETIRED]

Vicmarc - Woodturning Lathes, Chucks, Jaws and Accessories - Home (http://www.vicmarc.com). There is a manual under down loads.

Look at belt replacement.

[rsser]

DJs Timber has replaced the bearings on his VL200 (?) so PM him if you don't get a useful reply in this thread.

Have you tightened the thrust washer? These are tapered roller bearings and this may save you some effort.

If you do have to do the bearings can I suggest you also loop a spare belt out of the way in the headstock so if it needs replacing again the spindle won't have to come out. Though the belts do seem to last well compared with V belts.

[Enfield Guy]

Yep, tightened the thrust washer a bit a couple of times. Bearing grumble was more pronounced. Yep I'm gunna do the belt as well. This lathe had a life in a high humidity environment and with the benefit of a torch I can see a small area of corrosion on the mainshaft either side of the pulley. I have given that a light linish and clean so should be no drama to remove. Luckily. the former owner had the forsight to squirt a bit of lubricant into the morse taper and stuff a rag into it so that is all good.

Might as well pull it down so I can ID the bearings and belt.

Ta for the link . I have done that, but it does not give the detail regarding removing and replacing the outer race.

Cheers

[Jim Carroll]

Call Vicmarc direct and have a chat with them, it may just be something loose or you may have overtightened. Tapered rollers can be awkward things at times and if not set properly can give headaches.

May save a lot of time and effort.

[rsser]

Good call.

You might want to pull out the bearings to begin with and check the grease and the rollers. May just need repacking with grease. But if the rollers and race show pitting, well $30 ain't much.

And by a spare belt, I meant in addition to the replacement, looped around the spindle but kept out of the way with a few blobs of Blu-Tak. That's a Stubby owner's tip ;-}

[Enfield Guy]

Taken the handwheel, thrust washer,etc off so I can access the rear bearing. There is minor, only a spot or two, of marking on one of the rollers. The race in the headstock displays a track where the bearing has been running. No damage that can be detected by touch.

I might get away with them, but, I just would not be happy. Out with the old, in with the new me thinks.

Cheers

[RETIRED]

It only takes a spot or two to be noisy.

Good call renewing them.

A little caution on repacking the new ones: DON'T over pack them as they can overheat and in some cases the motor won't turn it.

[rodent]

First rule of belt drives if you by more than 1 replacement belt , chances are you wont have to replace it for a long time . If you buy 1 belt it will brake in the next month or so .:D

[skot]

I am in the process of changing the bearings on my VL 175 (Circa 2001) and it hasn't been a straight forward process as yet.

PM sent to Enfield Guy to discuss.

[Enfield Guy]

The solution has been found. Took the headstock off the lathe and took it down to my local engineer along with the new bearings and the spindle. He is going to remove the outer races from the headstock, install the new races and press the new bearing onto the spindle.

Price. $50.00. Cheap as chips I reckon.

Should be able to re-assemble monday arvo/evening.

SKOT s gong to look into getting his done at the same time.

Cheers

[rsser]

Good idea.

I did the same with the Stubby, to get the conventional ball bearings pressed in (the inboard unit was a double race and I didn't trust myself to do it).

The eedjit knocked it over and broke a hinge lug on the alloy lid. Repaired at his expense.

[skot]

A big thank you to Enfield Guy for organising the installation on the new bearing cups. We took the headstock over to his engineer yesterday morning and Enfield Guy bought it all the way back to my shed today...top bloke.

I still have to put it all together tonight but Enfield Guy reassembled his last night and says it is working beautifully.

Thanks again Bevan...I'll let you know how it works out.

[skot]

Big Smiles:U:U:U:U

The lathe sounds great....no more grinding noise. Still got a little bit of adjustment to do as it got a little warm at the bearings and I need to have a bit of spare time to do a good adjustment.

[skot]

OK,
A question for the great holders of knowledge.

I spent most of Saturday trying to do a final adjustment on the bearings. The bearings sound fine...no more grinding BUT there is still a minor amount of noise around the headstock area which doesn't sound like bearings.

My thought is that as the flood water went up to the centre of the spindle..the belt has been affected by having 90% of the belt submerged in water for about 12 hours and the other 10% stayed dry. Could this have damaged the fibres in the belt and created an unbalanced belt.

Search on the net has not given a definative answer to this.

Any ideas?

Thanks Scott

[RETIRED]

Examine the inside of the belt to see if there is any rust or built up aluminium in it.

A little aluminium "dust" reacting with water may have caused a "hard" spot.

You shoulda replaced the belt as well.:wink:

[skot]

Thanks ,

I think I will replace the belt...around $60 either from Vicmarc or my local Repco can get one in for about the same price.

[Enfield Guy]

I reckon that replacing the belt would be a good idea. I have done that with mine.

It turns out that I have other issues with my new/ secondhand lathe. I was finishing a pendant, similar to Tea Lady's, and the variable speed drive has decided that it has had enough of this life and slow slow she will only go.

So maybe I will need to go the full upgrade path with a 1.1Kw motor and the 1.5Kw variable speed drive.

I went into the purchase I made knowing that this may be an option but didn't expect it to be quite so soon.

Never mind life goes on.

[RETIRED]

Are you sure it is the drive and not bearing adjustment?

[Enfield Guy]

Yep pretty sure . Only tightened the thrust washer by hand, checked for axial play, attached a chuck, big bugger at that, checked axial play. spun the chuck by hand, loosened thrust washer till axial play detected (about 3 degrees), retightened thrust washer a bit, ran lathe for about 5 min as per manual, checked the headstock for heat ( less than luke warm by my estimation). Turned a small box and a pendant. Was finishing the pendant at fairly high revs and the lathe speed reduced dramaticlly. Felt the headstock(luke warm at best). Felt the motor (hot!!!0 Motor is now a bit noisy and VSD doesn't alter the speed at all only slow slow is available.

Cheers

[RETIRED]

Bummer.

[Enfield Guy]

Nah, not really. I knew of the issues regarding the early VSD drives. My research leads me to believe that they had a life span of about 6 years with moderate to high use. It is a 2000 model the one I have.

If I upgrade to 1.1 Kw and the modern VSD option, which gives me a displayed speed, I think I will be set up for a goodly amount of years to come for less than I would pay for a new, or recent second hand machine with the same specs. Just a bit of a pity that I cant fit a 2 Kw motor. The room just isn't there to do it.

Cheers

[HSS]

The solution has been found. Took the headstock off the lathe and took it down to my local engineer along with the new bearings and the spindle. He is going to remove the outer races from the headstock, install the new races and press the new bearing onto the spindle.

Price. $50.00. Cheap as chips I reckon.

Should be able to re-assemble monday arvo/evening.

SKOT s gong to look into getting his done at the same time.

Cheers


By engineer, do you mean just an ordinary auto mechanic? I think I need to replace my bearings but don't trust myself to do it properly.

[Enfield Guy]

No, not a mechanic. A fitter and turner. Although a half decent mechanic should be able to do the job a maintenance engineer is probably a better option.

Cheers

[bobsreturn2003]

i replaced my vl 175 bearings tapped out and in with a bronze drift easy to do if you know what to do . try vicmarc website . i found a 2hp 1.5 kw motor that fitted??? its a german motor, flange mount 220-440v 1400rpm bauknechtbrand [ebay] . after some machining of flange mount:C. it did , coupled with a new inverter its just magic :2tsup:. but quite dificult to get right as the standard motor is small :doh: and shaft needed adjustment etc, wouldn t advise, unless your stuck and have metal lathe, and enjoy the project etc, used the inverter on a 3/4 hp motor upgrade for my jet lathe . the 1hp motor looks like surplus at present cheers Bob

[skot]

I think I finally have my headstock bearings adjusted properly.....the headstock casing is only luke warm but the spindle in still a bit hot.

Hopefully it is still bedding the bearings in and burning off excess grease to cause the spindle to be hotter..not hot enough to burn my hand but still hoter than the casing......Is this normal or should the spindle be only luke warm as well?

Cheers
Scott

[Enfield Guy]

Hmmmm! Sounds a bit weird to me Skot. I fitted my new motor and VSD yesterday. What a difference that has made. Wow! The process I followed is.

Disconnect from power. Disconnect wiring at the motor. Remove the offending VSD. Remove the motor. Remove the mounting flange and pulley, install on new motor. Install new motor. Align pulleys. I did this by releasing the locking grub screw on the headstock pulley, rotating the mainshaft a few times to allow the pulley to settle into alignment, retighten grub screw. I made a bracket to fix the new VSD to. Plugged it in and away we go. Brilliant.

I have just run mine for about 25 min. Headstock lukewarm at best, spindle pretty much the same. I might be able to come out and have a look towards the end of next week if you want.

Cheers

[skot]

Thanks Bevan but it seems to be working even better this afternoon. Before leaving the shed I ran it for over 10 mins at about 2000rpm and both the casing and spindle were much cooler than this morning.

I'll give it a good workout tomorrow and see how I go.

Thanks for the offer and I'll take you up on it if it starts running hot again.