3
Blowing a $400 spindle bearing because I skipped coolant checks
Last Wednesday I was running a tight tolerance job on a Haas VF-2 and heard a weird growl - ignored it thinking I'd finish the run. 10 minutes later the bearing seized and threw the spindle off by .003. Anyone else have a similar failure from something small they overlooked?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
mary_schmidt20d ago
Did you ever find out if it was the coolant nozzle getting clogged or just not enough flow in general? I mean, maybe it's just me but I've had that same growl happen twice and both times it was because the coolant was barely trickling. The heat builds up way faster than you'd think. Idk, it's one of those things where you think you can push through a few more parts and then bam, you're out a spindle and down for a week.
4
rayc8920d agoTop Commenter
Oh man, I gotta disagree with you on this one. I've chased that same growl a few times and it was never the coolant flow in my case. Both times it turned out to be the coolant nozzle itself getting clogged with swarf from the last job. The pump was pushing plenty of fluid but it was just backing up and not hitting the cutting zone right. I get what you're saying about heat buildup but I think a trickling nozzle fools you into thinking it's a flow issue when it's really a debris problem. I'd rather check the nozzle first before tearing into the pump or lines.
4