Porper B Lateral Shift Problem

Raildriver

Raildriver

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have been having problems facing butts and shafts lately. I just noticed that the Headstock was moving in and out just a little bit. I began to take a closer look and it appears that the spindle is moving latteraly by a very small amount and tends to bounce in and out at higher speads. Has anyone had this problem? It seams like it may be a bearing problem. The lathe is about 5 years old and is used weekly but not daily. Any help would be appreaciated:confused: . Raildriver
 
A friend of mine had problems with the headstock bearings also.
One of them became oval shaped instead of round.
If you replace them buy the best grade of bearings you can get.
It will make a difference.
 
For left and right play as I call it on a lathe there is probably something on the left hand end of the headstock spindle that needs to be pushed right and tightened up. That creates a pre-load and takes the pley out. That would be the first thing I would look for before replacing bearings.
 
If you pull the back cover on the lathe you will see the drive pulley. There are set screws in the groove of the pulley. You need to back them off push the chuck back all the way up to the front bearing push the pulley up tight to the back bearing and tighten the set screws back down.
That pulley is what holds the through shaft in place.
This should take care of your movement.
David
 
That's what It sounds like to Me. I not familiar with the inside of the porper, but I am with what you explain, and if It were the bearings I would think there would noise, and runout from side to side, not so much in and out. Sounds like a easier fix to Me also. Again I don't own one, only going By other spindle designs I have run accross.
 
Thanks for everone's feedback. I will try the suggestions tomorrow and give an update. Raildriver
 
Raildriver said:
I have been having problems facing butts and shafts lately. I just noticed that the Headstock was moving in and out just a little bit. I began to take a closer look and it appears that the spindle is moving latteraly by a very small amount and tends to bounce in and out at higher speads. Has anyone had this problem? It seams like it may be a bearing problem. The lathe is about 5 years old and is used weekly but not daily. Any help would be appreaciated:confused: . Raildriver
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I would contact Porper, I own a repair lathe and a B lathe. Any issues I have had were easily and simply handled by them. Know one knows more about this product than they do!!!
 
I have had this happen with two of these lathes. It is not supposed to do that & there is nothing that is supposed to hold it in place from the ends. It is designed to be machine fit into the bearings, basically fit so clean & tight that the metals lock together. However, it does not work for very long. The heat generated by running the lathe expands the spindle metal more than the hardened bearing metal, and then it cools off & expands again when ran again. After some time it'll just release & begin to free-ball. Drilling accentuates the issue. What you can do to lock it back up is use some loc-tite around the seams. It'll secure the spindle to the bearings forever. When/if the bearings need replacement simply heat the loc-tite up with a propane torch & it'll set free for easy change.

If you are not comfortable using the loc-tite, then you can close the chuck completely & use a hammer to tap the front of the closed jaws. This will force the entire spindle backwards into the bearings to a point where the spindle locks into the bearings again. It'll be a very tiny bit, so there's no need to pound it. Just tap it until it no longer has that linear movement. I prefer the loc-tite but each method has & does work. No need to tear your machine down for a rebuild. The machine I have now aquired this issue 3 years ago. I used loc-tite & have done nothing else to it, and it gets 10+hrs/week actual running time.
 
The problem is with the spindle pully and not with the bearings. The spindle pully is what holds the headstock on place. Tap the chuck back to its normal operating position and then slide the pully, from the back of the machine, back to its normal position and tighten in down. This should cure the lateral movement. If not, call Porper and ask for Don. He can wakl you through it.
 
I tightened the spindle pully down and it seemed to help. When I put the lathe back together, I pushed on the headstock and I heard a pop. I then pushed the spindle from the rear towards the headstock and heard a pop. Not sure, but I think the headstock is running true and I can't see any lateral movement now at high speeds. I'll do some repairs and see how it goes. Thanks everyone. Raildriver
 
Raildriver said:
I tightened the spindle pully down and it seemed to help. When I put the lathe back together, I pushed on the headstock and I heard a pop. I then pushed the spindle from the rear towards the headstock and heard a pop. Not sure, but I think the headstock is running true and I can't see any lateral movement now at high speeds. I'll do some repairs and see how it goes. Thanks everyone. Raildriver
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Put a dial indicator on the head stock or the spindle and turn it on to see how true the entire system is running. If it on you will know for certian this way!!!

Good luck!!!
 
knurled spindle

Raildriver said:
I have been having problems facing butts and shafts lately. I just noticed that the Headstock was moving in and out just a little bit. I began to take a closer look and it appears that the spindle is moving latteraly by a very small amount and tends to bounce in and out at higher speads. Has anyone had this problem? It seams like it may be a bearing problem. The lathe is about 5 years old and is used weekly but not daily. Any help would be appreaciated:confused: . Raildriver
Click to expand...
joe stoped knurling the spindle on his lathes which allows the spindle to move back and forth the problem can be fixed without completly removeing the spindle are bearings it,s simple to do give me a call i,ll walk you thru it it,s a 1 hour job the bearings on these lathes do not wear out if setup right alot of people problems are blamed on bearings but i own 3 of these machines and i have never had a bearing problem 1 machine is i believe 9 years old there could be 1 other problem it could be thats a 15 minute fix but i would say it,s the first problem i mentioned my number is 1-812-873-7745 ask for bob
 
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