Pulsar spindle nut wobble

I just got a new Novakon Pulsar last week and finally turned it on today. I removed the lever drawbar assembly before I did this as it seemed to need adjustment and I didn't want to risk running it if the plunger was touching the spindle nut. When I ran it at low speed, I can visually see some runout, or wobble even, on the spindle nut itself. I haven't put an indicator to the actual spindle nose, so I don't know if there's a problem there, but visually it looks like everything is spinning true down there. I was just wondering if anyone knew if this was normal? Like do all spindle nuts have some visible wobble? I just haven't seen that many tools to say. Thanks in advance for the help.

Here's a video of it I took if it helps diagnose. Thanks again.

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

That does not appear to me to be necessarily a wobble. Looks to me more like optical illusions. You're looking at the top of the drawbar head, which is partially, and very unevenly, burnished by contact with the LDB. You're also seeing the top of the spindle, which is tubular, and threaded on the OD. The end of the threads are, surprise!, not consistent around the whole OD, due to the thread lead. So, to me, it looks perfectly normal.

Regards,
Ray L.

Mine looks the same. Fortunately my spindle is fine down below. Btw I never had great luck w the lever drawbar and just made my own power drawbar. My LDB always rubbed.

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Originally Posted by brianbonedoc

Mine looks the same. Fortunately my spindle is fine down below. Btw I never had great luck w the lever drawbar and just made my own power drawbar. My LDB always rubbed.

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I'd guess you have a fairly early LDB? It has been greatly improved over time - more travel, more spring pressure, etc.

Regards,
Ray L.

Yes or so I’ve heard. Great idea but V1.0 didn’t work that hot.

Yeah, I only had mine off because when I first tried it, it seemed "sticky." When I took it off to get that video, I found that the cam shaft was slightly bent, and even though it was supported by two bearings, it didn't rotate freely.

I really like the idea of the lever drawbar, but I'm now also trying to think of a better solution than the current one. I've seen your videos of your PDB. It looks really slick. Do you have the plans for it up anywhere?

Thanks for the reassurance that my spindle is ok.

Yeah I will try to post the files later. I really have to say it’s the second best upgrade to the pulsar - by far #1 has been PathPilot.

rickjames - heres the link to my Fusion 360 file for the PDB: A360

Just double check that the base fits your pulsar as you may have a newer version. Also my air cylinder is the Fabco MP4 (4 stage) but really only needs 3 stage. 2 stages won't supply enough pressure.
I did add a stack of 12 bellevilles from mcmaster to give over 3000lbs of holding pressure and a longer stroke of the drawbar. It never pulls out even when I screw up the feeds and speeds and cause crazy chatter like it used to w/ the LDB.

I removed the LDB early on too.
After lots of fiddling, just went back to a butterfly impact. With manual tool changes, it's hard to get more convenient than those. ;)

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Originally Posted by LeeWay

I removed the LDB early on too.
After lots of fiddling, just went back to a butterfly impact. With manual tool changes, it's hard to get more convenient than those. ;)

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I tried the impact wrench thing but I hated the noise and i always over shot it and the collet would drop out

Took a little getting used to.

Novakon is still selling Ray's PDB aren't they? That looked like a nice system. I'd be tempted to buy one if there was a model for my Tormach mill...

Not sure if it will run with Path Pilot yet.

Good point, but I never upgraded to an ATC so tool changes are manual for me anyway. PathPilot shouldn't care about that.

Right and I think I remember Ray saying that it doesn't matter for PDB. Must be easy integration on all of them. I have never thought about installing one, so don't know how they are activated.
On the Slant Pro lathe, I had a couple of codes already in Path Pilot for the collet closer integration and bar puller. I imagine they have similar on the mill side for the PDB.