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Weiss 176162 Spindle Repair

When our customer first contacted us about this Weiss 176162 spindle, they were limiting the spindle speed to 4-5000 RPM (capable of 15,000 rpm) because it was emitting a loud, high-pitched squeal if run any faster. A week later, they were unable to go past 1000 RPM without it screaming, and the tools were coming out hot. This busy aerospace manufacturer needed to complete an order for a customer so they proceeded to run the spindle for another several months in their Hardinge Bridgeport XR500 5AX (5-axis vertical machining center). When they finally pulled the spindle and sent it to us, they requested an expedited turn time as the orders were stacked up and they could not afford significant downtime.

CHALLENGE

Once the spindle arrived in our facility, we observed that it turned very stiffly when rotated by hand. Upon breakdown it was apparent that the front quad set of bearings was heavily contaminated with coolant, especially the #1 bearing. Our dimensional inspection uncovered excessive runout in the tooling taper, and we also noticed that the specialized rotary union was leaking, which had caused significant corrosion to components at the rear of the spindle. Fortunately, there was no other damage which would require further corrective action. Because the OEM bearings for the grease-injection lubrication system are not available, we advised our customer that we would be converting the spindle to use readily available high-speed grease for life bearings.

SOLUTION

Unfortunately, a replacement rotary union was not available and had to be manufactured. Our customer approved their quote with the best turn time we could offer, given our vendor’s lead time. In the interim, we kiss ground the shaft taper, reducing the runout to less than 2µ. We rebuilt the spindle with all new ultra high speed grease for life bearings, Belleville washers, quad seals, o-rings & screws. By the time the rotary union arrived, the spindle run-in and QC were already completed. We were able to assemble the rotary union to the spindle, perform a final test run to check for balance and rub.

RESULT

This spindle passed our final quality inspection before being returned to our customer with a 1-year warranty.

DETAILED CAUSE OF FAILURE

The front bearing set that was contaminated.

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Repair History - Here are examples of similar spindle repairs that may contain additional information that will help you. If you have additional questions, please contact us.

I really didn’t expect this; You guys really pulled it off! My many thanks to your outstanding crew for helping us get back into production.

— Dan Eaton, Taylor Metalworks

Its great not to be sending spindles out on a regular basis since you addressed my problems, but I know they will still be coming sooner or later. Never a problem when we get them back , run better than new. Hope everything is ok there. Please tell everyone there that we here appreciate everything that you do to keep us up and running and the quick turnarounds. Have delt with the rest now deal with the best. Have a great week end and up and coming holiday.

— Northland Customer

Thank you NTE just received spindle today and WOW ! what a nice job. Can’t wait to use it. Thank the Northland team for us for a job well done 

— Northland Customer

Both of the spindles that you repaired are on the machines and running great. We don’t have any spares for those grinders. We probably will not be purchasing a spare, as you have been able to turn around the repairs quickly and the price of a spare is cost prohibitive.

— Northland Customer

I am writing to thank Northland Tool for going the extra mile and saving my company from expensive machine downtime and expensive repairs. We have always sent our Chiron spindles for repair as a shaft with bearings. None of our previous rebuilders pointed out the bearing fretting or the fact that the housing in the machine was out of tolerance and causing premature failure to the spindles. After Northland fixed the housings the spindles have never sounded as good or run as well! Great job guys!

— Northland Customer

The detailed cause of failure reports and the expert technical advice that Northland Tool provides is bar none the best I have ever seen. We struggled to keep two of our large our milling spindles running for longer than 6 to 12 months. Northland Tools evaluation showed that the hydraulic nuts were not holding the assembly together causing premature spindle failure. We discussed this in detail and mutually decided to modify the spindle shaft to prevent this from occurring again. The first spindle we performed this on is still in the machine running like new after 3 years. That’s over three times the life of previous repairs and it’s still going strong. Easily over $40,000.00 of savings so far on that one machine and counting.

— Northland Customer

Your people go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to spindle repair. When we had difficulty with the spindle installation and we were able to talk directly to a spindle technician that helped us troubleshoot the issue it helped us out of a bind. We have sent several spindles to you and have nothing but great things to say.

— Northland Customer

Thank you for your attention with my quick turn spindle repair. Your status updates allowed me to plan around machine downtime and I now know that you deliver on your promises. In the past other spindle repair vendors talked a big game and consistently failed to deliver. You not only delivered my spindle before the due date but you kept me informed throughout the entire repair process.

— Northland Customer

You performed a miracle with my BIG PLUS spindle. After crashing the spindle severely damaging the taper we found that a replacement spindle was not only cost prohibitive but had a long delivery. Your repair was a fraction of the cost of new and you never would know that the spindle was damaged to the extent it was.

— Northland Customer

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