Charles, if the spindle bearings are bad enough to rattle when it runs then you should be able to slowly twist the spindle in either direction and feel the knock in them as the ball or roller in the bearing passes over the spawl in the inner or outer race. If you wish to arbitrarilly change the bearings at $80 a set, knock yourself out but I still say something is loose.

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Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

Understand what you're saying Ron, I do, but I just dont see where anything is loose. All allen screws in or on that spindle are tight. Oddly enough though, I don't feel anything out of place when I turn it by hand either. I only hear it when the lathe is running

Ron Dudelston said:

Charles, if the spindle bearings are bad enough to rattle when it runs then you should be able to slowly twist the spindle in either direction and feel the knock in them as the ball or roller in the bearing passes over the spawl in the inner or outer race. If you wish to arbitrarilly change the bearings at $80 a set, knock yourself out but I still say something is loose.

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Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

I can see feel or otherwise observe is loose

OK fine but the amount of play that can  cause a knock under power is not always so great that you can feel or sense it.  In fact it often is too small to feel until it's done major damage.

Just take the allen wrench to every single gear grub screw.

Check the pulleys too.  Pulley grub screws are notorious for coming loose.

As for paying $<big bucks>$ a bearing  I say NUTS,  get thee a measurement of the bearings inner race and outer race.  and the width of the bearing and go find the standard size replacement.  You should be able to tell whether it's metric or inch standard and find a standard bearing to replace it.   If you have a good pair of calipers use them. Or   go to a machine shop and ask them to measure it and record the dimensions.

No mass produced machinery uses custom bearings. It's just not done. The  engineer who tried to specify such a thing would be shown the door.

You can prolly get 'em on the flea bay for less than ten dollars each.

Charles! FYI what you are seeing in the head stock that you refer to as "gears" are not actually gears. The thin one that has slots is for indexing or locking the spindle and the thick one is part of a pulse generator that provides RPM indication. Neither one is for driving the spindle. The spindle drive is simply a motor, a belt and the sheaves (pulleys) on the motor and spindle shaft.

One quick question, is the noise heard when the 4 jaw chuck is installed or are you hearing it without anything installed on the spindle?

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Thanks guys, Yea Mike, I was calling them gears because that is what they look like that's all, and since they are on the back side of the lathe i can't really see what they were doing.

Anyway, i thought i would make a quick video and see if anyone can point me in the right direction since all Allen screws are tight.

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
nicholls61@att.net
Proud supporter of The Wounded Warrior Project, Homes For Our Troops and the NRA

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I just spoke with Charles and gave him some other things to try. One thing I forgot to mention is even though I don't believe it's bearings You could run the lathe for a few minutes and then feel the head stock case where the bearings are located and feel if they are hot to the touch which if one is hot then it could be an indication of a worn bearing. I'm assuming the bearings are sealed and can not be lubricated.

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Yea see the bearings are not heating up that I can feel, that's why this is so annoying, I know there is a problem but it's a matter of where, I'll take the speed indicator cover off in the morning, so i can get a better view and see if that pin from the spindle lock is a problem.

Thanks again Mike

Mike Dillen said:

I just spoke with Charles and gave him some other things to try. One thing I forgot to mention is even though I don't believe it's bearings You could run the lathe for a few minutes and then feel the head stock case where the bearings are located and feel if they are hot to the touch which if one is hot then it could be an indication of a worn bearing. I'm assuming the bearings are sealed and can not be lubricated.

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

do you have an indicator? put it on the spindle and push on it  toward and away from the indicator. If the head stock shows movement in the 0.002"  to 0.005" range, then your bearings are shot.  Actually, there should be absolutely zero movement.

You can't feel 0.005" movement with your hand.

That rattling sounds like a loose pulley or gear flopping on a shaft back and forth against the  key, it also sounds like a bearing.

You might try using a screw driver like a stethoscope.   Place the steel tip of the screw driver in various places on the head stock while it's running and listen with the  handle pressed to your ear. Move the tip around  placing it over where the bearings should be to other places and see if you can tell where it's loudest.

Sound can travel in funny ways but odds are it'll be loudest where there is a problem.

some more suggestions

A Low Tech way to query the bearings:

 With the lathe running at the speed that produces the noise, Place a piece of wood over the spindle.  Press very hard as if you were trying to shove the spindle out the back of the head stock.   You can use the tail stock to  push against the  spindle.

Do the same from the back of the spindle.

If this causes the noise to abate or go away it's the  most probably one or both of the  bearings.

You have not stated how many  shafts there are in this head stock.  Any shaft will have a bushing or bearing and that may be the cause too.

What brand  & model lathe is it?

Another:

Remove the  belt  from the pulleys.   rotate the  spindle yourself feeling and listening for any noise. That may help you isolate the cause too.

With the belt disengaged rig up a hand drill to spin the spindle up, and  look for noises.

You didn't tell us whether there were any interesting events leading up to the onset of the rattling. If there were that might also assist in any diagnosis.

Have you looked at the motor mounts?  If they are sloppy the motor could be  banging around.  

One thing the rattling in your video makes me think of is the way a V belt causes gravity hung motors to bounce and wobble.  V belts are ungodly inefficient power transmission devices consuming about 10% at each pulley. They are imbalanced and dense and inflexible. Because of how they are packaged they take on a set where they are bent to go into a package. This set causes vibration and bouncing unless they are tightly tensioned.  A V belt needs to be tensioned like you would in your car - tightly~!! Else-wise the  sets in the belt will always be imparting a rumble and shake to the machinery  to which it is mounted. 

If you can't diagnose this from outside the machine you will have  to open the headstock up and  investigate it by taking it apart one piece at a time.

It is also possible that the bearings in the head stock are out of alignment.  Has your lathe work resulted in a hot head stock at any time where you placed you hand on it and drew it away from the heat?  That could expand the bearing mount bores and allow one or both to reposition themselves out of alignment.  So too could crappy machining at the factory result in bearings that eventually run out of location.

Cliff the belt on his lathe is a grooved flat belt. They don't have the tendencies that the V belts have.

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Cliff the belt on his lathe is a grooved flat belt. They don't have the tendencies that the V belts have.

Is that the only belt in the monkey works?  I don't recall very many details about the lathe in question being offered up.

Another notion that might help:

I suspect that the screw in the front of the headstock that I see in the video is in a hole that   goes all the way  to the bearing.  I'd mount a grease nipple in that hole and see if some lube changes things.

The lathe only has 1 belt. There are no lube ports, the bearings are sealed to prevent ingress of sawdust.

Cliff said:

Cliff the belt on his lathe is a grooved flat belt. They don't have the tendencies that the V belts have.

Is that the only belt in the monkey works?  I don't recall very many details about the lathe in question being offered up.

Another notion that might help:

I suspect that the screw in the front of the headstock that I see in the video is in a hole that   goes all the way  to the bearing.  I'd mount a grease nipple in that hole and see if some lube changes things.

Hi all, A friend of mine unexpectedly took the day off from work so we spent some time going over the lathe.

The problem was the spindle lock. I have no idea how or why it started hitting the speed indicator sprocket or gear since nothing on the inside appeared to be loose but as soon as we pulled that spindle lock off, the knock went away. thanks for the suggestions and help.

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
nicholls61@att.net
Proud supporter of The Wounded Warrior Project, Homes For Our Troops and the NRA

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nichollswoodworks

ouch. That had to leave a mark.

Glad you fixed it.

Good to hear Charles.

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops