[japroach]

According to the specs, the mill and lathe use the same spindle bearings. Does anyone know if they have a generic part number, and where an equivalent or higher RPM part could be purchased from (other than from taig)?

Are they easy to remove (I remember heat fitted being mentioned before)?

Specs (100-04):
- Sealed precision ball bearing
- Bearing OD 1.5748 in. (40mm), ID 0.6692 in. (17mm)
- 10,000 rpm


Also, does anyone know why there is such a large difference in price for the mill headstock (200-60 $117.50), vs the lathe headstock (100-00 $63.90)?

thanks

[fretsman]

The part numbers/prices are different because the 200-60 is the ER-16 spindle and the lathe headstock 100-00 is the older 3/4-16 threaded spindle.

Dave

[Jeff-Birt]

The Mill uses a hardened ER-16 Spindle (as Dave mentioned.) I suspect the both the process needed to produce the ER type taper and the hardening process contributes to the increased price. The bearings are the same though.

Taig uses very good bearings in the spindle. (See my post on here about my friend who is purposefully trashing the spindle bearings.) The bearings are also easy to change. You just remove the screw in the back of the housing, heat the housing up with a heat gun, and the spindle cartridge will drop right out. You need an arbor press to remove and install the bearings on the shaft though.

NOTE: If you have never pressed bearings off/on in your life there is a good chance you will damage a bearing in the process. It is not hard but it really helps if you have an experienced person show you how.

[japroach]

Ah, so the ER-16 is actually a different outside thread altogether (M22x1.5 according to a search). That would rule out the mill spindle as I would like to directly mount a taig chuck to it.

and I guess I will buy the taig bearings.. for now (jeff, I do recall reading your torture test post)

thanks

[Jeff-Birt]

Yeah the ER spindle is totally different. A2Z does make an adapter to let you mount a Taig chuck on an ER spindle though: http://soigeneris.com/buy/A2ZCNC/ER-...16_579877.aspx . If your only wanting to use the chuck on it then the lathe spindle is the way to go.

[japroach]

For reference, here are the bearing part numbers:

01 00 6203 2Z C3 G2 - metal clip cover - pulley end
09 05 6203 2RDD C3 G84 - rubber seal cover - collet end

brand is ORS

[Bob La Londe]

Did anybody list any higher RPM rated bearings for this application? I am doing a lot of aluminum work, and I have designed a different drive setup that will allow me to use a higher speed higher horsepower motor, but for now I am running a speed control to keep RPM down around 10K. It would sure be nice to let it fly at 30K and just zip thru some of these aluminum jobs. (with cutting oil flood of course) I really like the Taig spindle, but would like to be able to spin it much faster.

[rowbare]

Bob,

According to their website, the ORS 6203s are rated for 17,000 rpm with grease lubrication or 24,000 with oil lubrication. It doesn't specify whether the rating applies to an open bearing or a sealed bearing so it is possible that the actual limit is a bit lower.

I suspect that one could run the Taig spindle at 15-16K and still get reasonable bearing life. The trick would be to do a few tests and monitor the bearing temperatures. If the temperatures remain reasonable, then you can probably get away with the higher speeds.

Up a notch in the level of effort would be to remove the bearing seals, clean them and re-grease with Kluber Isoflex NBU 15 grease. See http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCBlogMay2010.htm look for the article "Kluber's Magic Spindle Bearing Grease" dated 4/27/10. This might allow you to get to a higher speed or increase bearing life at 15-16K.

If I was making parts for money, I would do some tests to determine a speed that gives me reasonable bearing life and run at that. I would also keep a spare spindle cartridge or two on hand that I could swap in at the first sign of excessive noise or runout.

Note that I haven't tried any of this so there is a good chance that I am full of it. One thing that I am sure of is that the higher speeds will result in shorter bearing life. How much shorter is open to speculation. However if one recognizes this and takes steps to mitigate it, there could be significant productivity gains to be had.

bob

[Jeff-Birt]

If your wanting higher speeds you would be better off using bearings with ceramic balls. Also keep in mind that the cartridge is heat shrunk into the headstock. If you generate more heat than the housing can dissipate you'll wind up with a loose cartridge and big problems.

Another option is to use a Bosh Colt in place of the spindle and motor with PreciseBits high precision collets (although they are out of stock on them at present.)