Spindle bearing went out on a Friday at 4pm

Was running some aluminum parts for a rush job two weeks ago and heard that telltale grinding noise. Knew right away it was the spindle bearing. Took me all weekend to tear it down and replace it, got it running again Monday morning. Lost about 16 hours of production time. Anyone else keep a spare bearing set on hand or just me?

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3 Comments

rowanhernandez3mo ago

Lost about 16 hours of production time" yeah I get that hurts but I gotta be honest, keeping a spare spindle bearing set on hand feels like overkill to me. Those things are expensive and they don't go bad that often unless you're running the machine way past its limits or not keeping up with basic maintenance. I've been running a Haas for eight years and never had a spindle bearing fail. I'd rather put that money into better cutting fluid or a chip auger. If you're losing bearings that often maybe it's a coolant delivery issue or you're pushing feeds too hard. Spindle bearings are pretty tough if you treat them right.

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annajenkins3mo ago

Ugh that's rough man. Hope the rest of the week goes better for you guys.

1

jakeb813mo ago

Funny enough I had a similar thing happen with my truck once. Was driving home from a camping trip and the alternator just died on the interstate. Spent the whole next day swapping it in a friend's driveway. Do you run a lot of aluminum through that machine or just occasional batches?

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