Make Your Own ER11 Spindle

[Frederick_P]

We still do not have a Canadian distributor. I'm not privy to or aware of any talks going on right now.

The roadblock is shipping of the machines. Parts are not an issue. We can do that.

Why not use a redistribution center? You truck up a bunch of units and the Canadian customers get them delivered by ordering from you. One center in the east, one in the west and if it works, one in the middle. Not sure why it's a problem. I could get a variety of other heavy pieces shipped up here with no issue.

[lynnfrwd]

I don't know.

[Pratyeka]

There was a mention about the chuck bearings being ceramic bearings... Could we have a confirmation on that? Because a quick search reveals that those are not cheap ($50 and up). I seriously doubt LHR would put those in the Z truck, not that I imply they use cheap bearings, just that ceramic bearings are very costly compared to regular steel bearings.

[bergerud]

I do not believe LHR ever used ceramic bearings. No one has said they did. To the best of my knowledge, the only thing special is the lower non contact bearing (6002VV). The top bearing is common (6000DU). That is what my B machine spindle had. These bearings seem to do alright even though they have poor cooling due to the tolerance rings which insulate them from the truck casing. We need advice here from a CNC spindle expert as to whether there would be any advantage to ceramic bearings in the case of the Carvewright. My guess would be that there is no need for these expensive bearings.

[DocWheeler]

I do not believe LHR ever used ceramic bearings. No one has said they did.

Don't know for sure, but it has been stated that they are ceramic here.

[bergerud]

You are right, in that post, Jeff said he remembered an LHR engineer saying the bearings balls were ceramic.

"When the subject of replacing the bearings came up I recalled a conversation I had with one of the engineers at CarveWright about the bearings and he mentioned that they used ceramic balls due to the high speeds."

Mine were not, that is all I know for sure. Standard NSK 6002VV and the totally common NSK 6000DU.

I asked the question previously and was hoping someone at LHR would tell us.

[Pratyeka]

Right, most steel bearings of that size are rated to 24,000 rpm, that I have seen. they are also deep grooved, and are good for radial as well as axial loads.

One idea I had was to design a hole Z truck from scratch, allowing total liberty for choosing a spindle and bearings.

[ktjwilliams]

Hey Dan,,, Thx for sending me that item,, Just ordered new bearings 6000ZZ and 6200ZZ.. I also ordered the collets from SHARS.com... Ordered couple extra bearings so I can leave on spindles for easy swap out,,, I HOPE... LOL... Now if I can only find a 3/16th carbide bit... Been searchin round,, found one guy selling 3/16 bits for metal and when I spoke with him, he told me that the bit worked well in wood CNC's... So I may try it... The bit is tapered and the flutes look like it could work.. Nothin ventured nothin gained...

[bergerud]

That big bearing should be 6002 not 6200. I hope that was not my mistake. The 6200 has an inside of 12mm and I used that for the 12mm ER11 shank I now have on my machine. The spindle I sent you is turned to match the Carvewright bearing of inside 15mm, the 6002. Better check that.

[ktjwilliams]

OK Dan just ordered 5 of the 6002ZZ.... @ $ 1.60 I'm not gonna check to see whose fault is was... Well Curiousity got the best of me... It's UR fault,, All UR fault.. LOL... @ $ 1.60 ea,,, don't think I'm gonna lose any sleep.. Maybe I'll get a 12mm spindle ....