• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.

Is this normal on a mill?

M

Megar arc 5040dd

Super User
I was running my Modern ZX45 Mill today and put it through the paces really for the first time since getting it a year and a half ago. I have used it before but only for a few minutes at any given time. Tonight I ran it for 2 hours straight and a few decent cuts. The heaviest being about .250" depth of cut on .375" wide piece of mild steel with a 12mm carbide end mill. The band saw cut the edge of the flat bar at a slope and I accidentally touched off on the low end instead of the high end and then dialed in a .030" depth of cut. for about the last inch or so the cut got to about .250" deep. It cut it like butter. There was also a bunch of 1 1/2" wide face cuts with a new face mill. Anyways the part that I am wondering about it the spindle got warm at both ends. It was warm at the collet chuck as well as the spines at the top where the draw bar goes in. I am scared to ask is this normal? I noticed it after the first hour and then just kept feeling it after every cut for the second hour. It never got hot just warm. I changed the oil in it the other day so its all new oil in the head of the machine and everything sounds fine, no gear noise or bearing noise. My fear was the bearings were going but the temperature never increased and there was never any noise like you expect to hear when a bearing goes. I Don't have enough time on this machine to know if this is normal or if I should be worried.

Please tell me this is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about :confused:
 
You changed the oil, which is great for the gears.

But the spindle has two taper roller bearing that are greased. If you're not sure on the last service, you should consider regreasing the bearings.

On my mill the spindle was still full of factory installed casting sand and grinding dust. I also changed to a quality set of bearing because I was concerned about the quality of the bearings (I have an high distrust for Chinese bearings) and the fact they probably had been lapped.

After a good workout the spindle should be warm (you can still
Hold you hand on the spindle) but not hot. You don't want the grease to melt out.
 
The spindle is only warm and easily hold it all day long. Warm as babies milk is probably the perfect analogy. Sadly I don't have a fancy temperature gun or I would use that to be more accurate in my description of warm. It's definitely not hot. I just wasn't expecting it to be warm at all in any way when I touched it so it surprised me and got me worrying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top