The Home Machinist!

When I changed out mine, I whacked the old one out with a mallet and a block of maple. I split the maple in the process. You can try a vise, but it better be a big, strong vise. That puppy is in there but good. The coupling is an interesting idea, but it wouldn't be my first choice. Any play in the...

I had a thought. How much pressure does it take to press it out? Can I put the end of the spindle in my live end for the lathe, and drill an appropriate size hole in a 2" x 4" board for the mill end and mount the wood it in the vise, mounted to the table, and use the table screw to push ou...

I have also considered another option that may be viable, cheaper, won't even require me to remove the spindle from the sleeve, and will "future-proof" the machine against dis-continuation of this part. I have seen the splined shaft available in different lengths/diameters/designs. Some of...

Thanks Torch, I noticed that the Smithy Granite uses the R8 spindle. I contacted Tom Sorenson and he said that the Granites are made in a different factory. From Tom: "I'm sorry but we have never offered an R8 spindle for what is our CB/Midas series machines. The Granite machines come from a di...

What measurements do I/you need to ensure the piece will work? I'm virtually certain, from those images, that the dimensions are identical within a thousandth of an inch. Ok, maybe not the length, but the bearing numbers, upper and lower, are identical to mine. That means the diameters are the same...

Here is a picture of the spindle within the sleeve next to a ruler. The fluted area is about 6.9" long above the threads. I assume that the number on the bearing provides some indication as to their dimensions and this could be checked against the replacement part. The numbers on the lower bear...

Thanks Torch! Similar, but may not be exactly the same as to bearing size/placement, length of fluted/solid sections, etc. It is hard to tell because the drawings are so crude. But it may well be the same. No. 17 is the broken piece. What measurements do I/you need to ensure the piece will work? I d...

The good news is that new R8 ones are available. It may take a while to get it though, since it probably has to come from China. MT3 ones are more common and might even be in stock in places like Grizzly. I think I actually still have my original MT3 spindle somewhere. I swapped it out for an R8. A...

R8.

Well I found the problem with the bearings, but as I feared, the spindle did have a stress crack that spread when putting on the pulleys. :( I can't reassemble it like this and really don't want to shorten the stroke by >1-1/2". http://www.largescaleonline.com/eimages/lsolpics/Team_Member_Pics/...

I'm hoping that I've found the problem. There are two round nuts with a french lock in between to retain the bearings between the spindle and its outter cylindrical housing. After ordering a hook spanner and straightening the tab to remove the outter round nut, I found that the inner round nut had n...

Maybe a marine supply house. Zinc is used as a sacrifical anode to reduce corrosion for boats left in the water.