A necessary step before plating a spindle is a green grind. This Boneham spindle is being ground and will soon be plated.


A necessary step before plating a spindle is a green grind. This Boneham spindle is being ground and will soon be plated.
Summer is here and I would like to bring a few things to your attention that can help extend the life of your spindles during this season.
Check your air dryers:
The increased humidity puts higher demands on your air systems leading to the potential of water getting to your spindle bearings (in oil/air applications). It is much easier and cheaper to address it now with an air dryer than later with a spindle repair.
Vacations:
This is a common time for employees to leave for weeks at a time. If you are shutting their machine down for a week take the time to wipe down the spindle to remove any coolant from the external surfaces. This will prevent accidental ingress of coolant to the bearings. Do not use an air gun as this tends to force coolant into the spindle.
After a week of sitting it is always good practice to run the spindle through a warm up procedure. If your machine does not have this capability keep an eye on the temperature of the spindle. Any temperature over 130 degrees Fahrenheit is to hot and you will want to shut down the spindle. Wait for it to come back to room temperature then repeat.
Please see our glossary for more helpful information regarding spindles and their care.
In this photo the Matsuura Spindle we received for repair had a bent shaft. The shaft was bent do to the machine actuating and applying too much torque on the shaft which potentially caused the spindle to bend. In this spindle repair process Andy is replacing the bent shaft with a new one to ensure the spindle runs correctly. Visit Our Matsuura Page Here
Recently Northland tool got in this 8,000rpm Mori Seiki spindle for repair. This particular model is used to make AC and DC motors. Seen here: PJ is assembling this Mori Seiki spindle. We GPG’d the front housing, and kiss ground (done in house to save you money) the face and the taper. All of the spindle repair process takes place here at Northland tool. View Our Mori Seiki Spindle Repair Page Here.
Our production manager, Lee, just picked up a new Harley Davidson this week. Here are some pictures:
Jesse is running this Robodrill up to 20,000 RPM, and will be bringing the spindle into the spindle balance room to ensure that the spindle will run without any issues. This was a straight spindle repair.
In this spindle repair process you can see how much larger the Johnford St 80 spindle is compared to a basic spindle. In this photo Denton is holding a robodrill from a previous spindle repair. In comparison the Johnford St 80 is a much larger spindle. Northland Tool handles spindle repairs of all sizes. 







This Mori Seiki spindle was sent to us from a company in Italy to repair. Their sister plant here in the United States has been a customer of ours for spindle rebuild over 20 years.
The spindle was completely disassembled when we received it. At times this makes it difficult to determine the cause of failure but we are able to determine which parts will need to be reworked or replaced in our initial spindle evaluation. Our evaluation showed that the front spindle bearings failed first and were stressed to the point that the inner races split. The drawbar assembly gripper fingers and Belleville washers were worn beyond tolerance. The shaft drive dogs and front cover were damaged from impact. The rear housing was tapered and worn oversize by 25 microns.
We replaced the gripper fingers and Belleville washers to recondition the drawbar assembly. Our machining department repaired the damaged drive dogs. The rear housing and shaft taper where sent to our grinding department where they were green ground, chrome plated then finish ground on one of our Kellenburger ID/OD universal grinders.
Once the reconditioned parts passed our QC process the spindle was released to our clean room for assembly. The shaft was balanced on our schenk balancer and the bearings were installed. Then shaft was gently slid into the housing and the capture was set. After the rest of the spindle was assembled the spindle was placed on our custom test stand for break in and final trim balance. When this was completed the spindle repair was thoroughly tested by our QC personnel to insure micron tolerances are held and the vibration levels were within our standards. View Our Mori Seiki Spindle Repair Page Here.
In this video, Scott is showing a recent GPG of a Robodrill spindle.

This Omlat spindle had bearing failure. The front shaft journal was undersized and the drawbar threads were bent. In addition to repairing this spindle the customer wanted it converted to be able to use collet toolholding. We modified the shaft to accept a standard collet system. We also provided collets and collet nuts so the conversion was plug and play. The spindle was shipped back to the customer with our standard 1 year warranty.
| Home | Our Staff | Our Company | Aerospace | Automotive | Bearing Manufacturers | CNC Machining | Cutting Tool Manufacturing | Independent Service Providers Integrated Suppliers | Medical | Recreational Vehicles | Weapons Manufacturing | FAQ | Plant Tour | Testimonials | Contact | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | RSS | Sitemap | Emergency Repair © 2010 Northland Tool and Electronics 117 Gould Rd, Weare NH 03281 - NH Web Design by Epic Marketing Studio | Photography provided by Lallypops! |