I may not use the right terms, I'm a little new at this, but is there a speed that I need to be, to see if my spindle in the lathe has any runout? One of my friends asked me what the run out was....He thinking about buying my lathe......Peter
At what speed do I check my spindle runout
Nov 01, 2007
4 Replies
Best checked with the drive disconnected (belts slack/gears in neutral), turning it by hand. Take a dial indicator, indicate on either the surface of a dead center, the OD of the register (the precision part against which the chuck seats) or the inside of the spindle bore. Find the low point, zero the indicator, and find the high point. The measurement is your TIR, total indicator reading, which is what people usually refer to when they talk about runout.
The procedure for my South Bend is to place an indicator on the spindle OD and wiggle the spindle up and down. IIRC they say apply
75Lbs to a 1 foot lever, and the play should be about 0.001-0.002". Remove a shim if it's more, replace one if it's less.If I touch a tenth-reading dial indicator to the ID of the spindle taper and turn it carefully by hand, the needle doesn't move 0.0001".
What Ww88 said, but avoid running an indicator on a center. While it
*should* provide a proper reading, there's no guarantee it will. Centers have a way of getting slightly altered through handling, and could provide a false reading that isn't representative of the spindle, proper. Run your indicator on one of the precision surface features of the spindle. If your indicator is of fine enough quality, don't expect a perfect circle. I'd suggest that anything less than .0002" TIR is tolerable, although the less, the better.Harold
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Nope -- that isn't the runout -- that is measuring bearing wear and adjusting it out for plain bearings. That would be an older lathe, and the later ones would have ball or roller bearings depending on the maker and model.
That is the right way to measure runout, and that is a *good* one.
Enjoy, DoN.
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