[honesttjohn]

My 5 year old CMT original spindle has been getting louder and louder the past couple years. I figure it's the bearings going and Avid says it's a throw away part. I've heard that you can blow air in to help clean them out and squirt some kind of lube in. It cuts just fine - just getting too loud. How do you get inside to lube it - if you can? I have the new 4hp here as a replacement but don't know how to change the VFD settings as well as another used CMT I picked up - but that one has a square plug and mine is round. Any ideas?

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
why not change the bearings?

If you leave it long enough the bearings will collapse and then the armature will pole most likely with damage which will rob you of the chance to
change the bearings.

Craig

[difalkner]

Mine started making noise about three years ago, John, so I bought a slightly more powerful one to replace it. I figured I'd wait until I really had time to make the swap, though, or until the noise got too frequent (it sometimes doesn't make a sound other than normal running). Here we are three years later and the new one is still in the box. If I ever change it out I plan to replace the bearings in the old one.

Is there a YouTube video that might help you? Seems like I found some instructions here on CNCZone a few years ago but I'd have to do a search again to find that.

[honesttjohn]

Hi,
why not change the bearings?

If you leave it long enough the bearings will collapse and then the armature will pole most likely with damage which will rob you of the chance to
change the bearings.

Craig

Easier said than done. These are pressed or molded in and not meant to be changed. I watched a video of a factory (Chinese of course) worker changing them. Doesn't look like I want to try it.

[honesttjohn]

Hi David !!!!!!

I'm heading into my third holiday season with the noise, but it's noticebly louder now. I've got the replacement sitting here, but, of course, Avid changed spindles and the settings have to be changed. I've also got an older one identical to this one, but the plug is different. And the new machine (the one still in the boxes waiting to be assembled) has the newer model too. Avid said it can't be fixed (I disagree) and offered no help at all except to sell me the new different replacement. CMT (the maker) even said there's no fix.

[Algirdas]

Doesn't look like I want to try it

Sell the machine ( or the spindle ) then

pressed or molded in and not meant to be changed

shouldn't be. Just pretend, at factory final tests shows inacceptable runout. Why to throw out the whole spindle when you can just replace the bearings?
Spindle bearings are pre-tensioned, they are sitting on the taper ( microns only, not visible ). You need heating in order to get it loose. On the other hand, if you know for sure the bearing is kapput, you can destroy it in order to take out.