Spindle rebuild NM-135

Hey guys. Going through with more adjutments and finding all the bugs on the mill. I did some testing on the spindle last night and I have about 0.004” to 0.007” of play on the spindle nose when pushing on it with my thumb.

It is not really critical at this point but eventually I will need to rebuild the spindle cartridge.

Anyone ever done that on an NM135? Any tips, recommendation, part number for the bearings?

I sent an email to Novakon and I don’t know if I will get an answer. Haven’t got one on the last couple I sent a while ago.

Cheers and thanks in advance.

GST

Unanswered emails is not like Novakon. John is really good at responding. I don't think I ever waited more than a day for a response and usually much less than that.

Steve

I guess I have not been lucky lately. Before I bought the mill I contacted them and got a reply within 2 days from John I believe. After I bought it I inquired about a manual and some drawings I was told could be had and I never got a reply. Tried two more tomes and same thing aonfar.

We’ll see. Hopefully everything is good at Novakon.

GST

How hard are you pushing on the spindle? I have a torus pro and it deflects with what I consider light pressure. I have not measured how much lately though.

Not very hard. If I just put light pressure I get about 0.004”. If I really push hard that is when I can get it to go about 0.007”.

I get light chatter marks when machining 6061 but nothing crazy. If I finish with 2x 0.005” pass I get somewhat acceptable finish. Again 6061 can get kinda gummy.

I plan on doing the bearing at some point but the mill needa to make some money first!!! ????

GST

I would give John a call using the number on the home page of the website. He's always been helpful but is a busy guy. It looks like there's some interesting activity on the website....

Micah

ok I was sitting in the shop and remembered this thread. Pushing hard on the spindle I get about .001" of deflection. I did adjust the bearings a while back because I had a lot of spindle runout. If I remember correctly it was about .005". Spindle runout now is about .001" which I think is still to high especially with small end mills. The .007" play you have is a lot. Maybe try adjusting the bearings? I don't know what the correct procedure is I just tightened up the retainer screws.