James N. Heald was an innovator in the design and building of grinding equipment for the automotive industry. In 1905, he invented a rotary grinder for the sides of piston rings. He went on to invent internal grinding machines with a planetary action that overcame many of the problems of the grinding methods of the time. His designs were so well though out that many of his concepts survive in the grinding machines used today.
Although the Heald Company no longer exists in the same capacity it once did, Heald spindles also known as Red Head spindles are still in use today. Northland Tool has been repairing these spindles almost from our inception in 1979. Over the 30 years we have been rebuilding Heald spindles we have incorporated many design changes to improve spindle life, accuracy, lubrication, rigidity and increases in speed. View a piece of Heald History - an original page from the Heald brochure from the 1960's.
Worn shaft bearing journals and worn housing bearing bores: This is common because the spindle design is so good that they are still in use 10, 20 sometimes 30 years after being put in service. The spindles were sometimes rebuilt “in house” and had new bearings installed. Particular attention needs to be paid to the dimensional aspects of the bearing contact surfaces as fretting, contamination and normal wear can bring them outside of acceptable size tolerances causing poor spindle performance.
Pilot: Worn tooling, crashes, excessive loads and normal wear are some of the contributing factors to pilot damage. This can be easily repaired in our in house grinding department with our grind plate grind procedure.
Worn Treads: Over time the threads for the tooling and pulleys can wear down causing decreased holding power and in some cases run out. Northland Tool & Electronics has several different repair options for this from thread repair to replacement shafts.
Contamination: The ID grinding process often presents a higher potential of bearing contamination. Coolant splashing back on the face of the spindle enters the interior of the spindle causing bearing contamination. This contamination will break down the grease and eventually cause spindle failure. Northland Tool & Electronics pays particular attention to the labyrinth surfaces for proper gap and fit. Installing and air purge system on the Heald spindles here for repair is also a great way to reduce contamination. See more here.
Damaged Pulleys from Tool Change: We receive Heald spindles that have damage to the pulleys from the tool changing process. We have several options available to improve the tool change process. See more here
Crashes: Yes it happens. When it does particular attention must be paid to the shaft tolerances. Pilots can be distorted, shafts bent and grind plate grinds may be necessary to bring the spindle back to proper operating condition.
Excessive belt tension: Excessive belt tension causes rear bearing failure in Heald spindles. As feed rates increase and materials change we find that some of our customers have increased the belt tension to avoid belt slippage. Be careful not to go to far as it will put increased tension on the rear set of spindle bearings that are not engineered to take large amounts of radial load.
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Worn shaft bearing journals and worn housing bearing bores: This is common because the spindle design is so good that they are still in use 10, 20 sometimes 30 years after being put in service. The spindles were sometimes rebuilt “in house” and had new bearings installed. Particular attention needs to be paid to the dimensional aspects of the bearing contact surfaces as fretting, contamination and normal wear can bring them outside of acceptable size tolerances causing poor spindle performance.
