Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Spindle runout
David Shores
>My 2 month old lathe seems to have developed spindle runout. So much so I can sometimes see my bowl blanks wobbling and see where the gouge removes material part way around the blank. Frustrating. I removed my chuck and checked the runout with a Oneway gauge, measured at the spindle. It is about 6-7 thousandths of an inch. Is this too much? I don't know about lathes, but my tablesaw arbor should have much, MUCH less runout than that.
Thanks/dgs
Re: Spindle runout
RevDoug
>No, that is not good. Sounds like a call to the the company to me. If the lathe is from one of the better companies, you very well may be getting a new spindle at no charge.
And the manufacturer says....
David Shores
>I talked to the manufacturer's customer assistance people today. (I purchased the machine new 2 mo ago, so it is still under warranty.) They had a technician call me back within an hour. He told me that .006 inch runout was within specs. Yikes! Upon recheck, the runout is .007-.008. He said they could send me another spindle, however, he thought that would bring the machine only to within the .006 specification. Interestingly, he said their standard for measuring spindle runout was to mount a precision ground faceplate and place the indicator +/-3 inches from center. And since my lathe shows 7-8 thou wobble using this measuring technique (with the supplied non "precision ground") faceplate, the tech figured my machine was probably, in reality, within their tolerances. Yikes!
Re: And the manufacturer says....
john dillbeck
>This is interesting. Did he say that the .006 was at the 3 inch radius? How are you measuring and are you reporting a peak to peak number. I can't believe a spindle with .006 would be acceptable. They are probably using the 3 in which it would be .002 at the spindle which is still excessive. What kind of lathe is it?
It's a Delta 46-715
David Shores
>
Re: Spindle runout
Keith Tompkins
>maybe something came loose? Make sure all fasterers are tight. Did you have a HUGE catch? I can't imagine you could have bent the spindle.
Re: Spindle runout
David Shores
>No huge catches. All is tight. Spindle has no detectable play or slop with push/pull/lateral pressure applied.
Put a drive center in it
Bob Hackett
>And check the runout there too.Deltas are notorious for excessive runout thru the morse taper.
Look at it this way,the piece you just removed from the lathe is .008 out.When you remount it,unless you get it back in the correct position you can have up to .016 total runout.
If a manufacturers tolerances are not what you think they should be,and most offshore companies(Delta is made in Taiwan) aren`t IMO.You still have the option of bringing the lathe back to the place you bought it and either trading up or getting your money back and going elsewhere.
Mainely,Bob
Re: Spindle runout
Bob Persing
>David, If you indeed have spindle runout it should be repaired/replaced. However, the test you reported Delta uses (percision ground faceplate) seems to measure a bit more than just the runout of the spindle. Duplicating THIS test with the supplied faceplate might not reveal the real culprit. It could be that your faceplate is a bit out or it does not seat perfectly against the spindle shoulder. Did you measure the runout of the spindle shaft itself (no faceplate)? You have to find smooth spot but I would expect this measurement to be around +/- .001" or so.
When you first mentioned you were using a chuck and the gouge was doing the hit-mis-hit-mis routine, the first thing that came to my mind was that the wood stock was begining to dry and change shape (if it was green wood). I certainly have experienced this when I have done bowls (I don't work all that quickly so the wood has a chance to go oval)...just some thoughts. I suspect Delta will do "whatever is necessary" to get your situation squared away.
Good luck.
BobP