[bonestock]

I knew the deal was too good to be true but I hope there may still be something there to salvage

Anyway I'm trying to set my expectations for pricing on a) bearing replacement and b) full spindle replacement
Hopefully someone can comment their experience and pricing so I can see if I'm still getting a deal or a money pit.

This model has the base 7k rpm spindle and through tool coolant.

This is a side gig so this machine may only see 500 hours of use a year. I just need more capacity than my Centroid knee mill provides and this older Okuma seemed to fit the bill at first glance. I see these machines going for $25k-$35k and this one was priced at a little less than half because it needs to move this week.

[ifixcnc]

Deal if not much else is wrong with it, and you can find a good price on the repair.
Money pit if there is alot else wrong and you have to pay the dealer to fix it.

[bonestock]

I called a couple spindle shops in my area to get an idea. Harry Chatfield at Atlanta Precision was incredibly helpful. He pulled up some of their old service logs to help give me an idea of the typical spindle repair for these machines. It looks like it could range from $2k to $8k depending on how abused the spindle, taper, and other components are.

[underthetire]

That spindle is a REAL B*tch to get out. You have to pull the entire head off the rails to get it out.

[Algirdas]

You have to pull the entire head off the rails to get it out

not at all there is a trick. A couple of special tools needed - broken wrench key and long hexagonal key.
Spindle out takes 2 hours (one person, because there is no room for two) including top disassemble: coolant, cylinder ...
Bearings could be ordered from any serious supplier. The design of spindle is good, not much likely to have broken something else.
Spindle cardridge back takes about 2 hours. You need to adjust bearing tension, so it takes one extra assembling of cardridge without distancer and measuring. You need to balance the cylinder after assembly, it could take a couple of hours also..

[underthetire]

How do you get the cartridge out the bottom? The ones we did the spindle was longer than the height of the head.

[Algirdas]

The trick is to take the spindle out with a little slant, not all the way vertically.
1. check Z axis positive system limit and limit switch
2. position the table that way, that spindle nose edge will go into table slot.
3. move headstock up with pulse handle Z axis positive up to the limit. Let the spidle slide out
4. move the (Y axis) table a (2 ... 6) mm closer
5. spindle is free now, hold it by hand and let it down with table moving closer.
Sorry for my English, it's not so easy to describe. I have seen how americans are changing the car tires in competition (selected smart people) so, my explanation is based on that. You need to think more flexible. No need to have the spindle straight vertical all the way.

[underthetire]

Ya, we tried that. Although thinking about it, I think we were doing the high speed spindles, under warranty. It may have even been Okuma wanted to switch the entire head. I just remember pulling the head, it was a PIA. Okuma had sent another complete head.

[Algirdas]

sure, yes. my recipie is valid for "slow" spindles, they are limited at 8000rpm as usual.
High - speed and air-bearing spindles are quite different story.