Craftex brand lathes from BusyBee Tools

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There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war for generations; even a democrat like myself must admit this. But there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the "money touch," but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U.S. Republican (later Progressive) politician, president. Letter, 15 Nov. 1913.

That sounds as much like a spacer got missed in the reassembly, as it does of a bearing going south. Maybe a screwdown sleeve that was tightened but was at a false "home" point, and subsequently popped loose, causeing the available free play. Any bearing that went and allowed that kind of play would have to pretty much be disintegrated.

In any case, it is worthwhile to get your bearings from a bearing house, rather than from Busy Bee. A decent counterman in a bearing shop will want to know the inside and outside dimensions of the bearing, and should be able to give you a couple options for tolerance levels and prices. If there are readable numbers on the bearing races, a google search should find a supplier. Don't go nuts on buying the ABEC 9 bearings for this thing either. Buy the best priced ones that you can, sometimes the lower grade bearings are actually costlier than the higher grades due to manufacturing economies, and low grade bearings from a good manufacturer are pretty darn good in any case. Maybe you knew that, maybe not.

Really, these lathes are built to a price, sometimes they are worth at least what you pay. I figure that swapping out the main bearings will still be cheaper than buying a new lathe. If you are very lucky the bearing will be an off the shelf item.

Hey! The warranty is expired! One less thing to stop you from digging in, eh!

I am surprised, actually, that more of these machines do not turn up for sale as broken machines,with the numbers of them out there, and all their alleged faults. I know that there are enough bargain hunters out there that would be willing to put in the time, that these machines would be unlikely to go straight to the dump.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Good news...

There are two ring nuts at the drive end to keep the main spindle tight in the bearings. I thought I had them tight enough, but when I tore apart the drive end this morning ( I was too depressed to do it last night), I discovered some chips in behind the inner ring nut. Cleaning that all out enabled me to tighten them up fully, and solved the problem! The main bearings seem to be ok. At least, the lathe runs without any suspicious noises, and no play at all anymore.

Cheers,

Charles

============ Thanks for "closing the loop." I often wonder how things/projects turned out.

Unka George (George McDuffee)

...and at the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased, and the epitaph drear: ?A Fool lies here, who tried to hustle the East.?

Rudyard Kipling The Naulahka, ch. 5, heading (1892).

Yer welcome, George :)

Thank you for the advice!

Cheers,

CVC