News & Events

Summer Recommendations to Extend the Life of Your Spindle

Summer Can Mean Stress for Your Spindle Summer is almost here and Northland Tool & Electronics 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.

The Benefits of a Ceramic Conversion Program by Northland Tool

There are many benefits of a ceramic conversion program by Northland Tool & Electronics, including: Service: Our staff will be in contact with you all the way through the spindle repair process, and will make sure the spindle is performing to your satisfaction after delivery. Quality repair: Northland Tool uses only the best materials and skilled technicians in your spindle assembly. Example: NTE has a customer whose router spindles where only lasting 6 to 12 months between repairs. The high repair costs and machine down time were seriously affecting the companies’ profits.

Okuma Howa 438 spindle repair solutions

Our customer acquired several Okuma Howa machines from a sister plant that closed. The installation of the machines was anything but smooth. The first problem they ran into was a spindle that was making noise and leaving chatter marks on the parts. We concluded the bearings were worn and pulled the spindle for repair. Our breakdown evaluation found the failure of the rear bearing to be the main cause of failure. Contamination had worked its way through the rear cover into the rear bearing causing the grease in the rear roller bearing to fail. Here is a view of the back cover and the contamination that was present.

Bryant WBA Grinder Spindle Repair

Bryant WBA Grinding Spindle 70,000 rpm Thru Tool Coolant An automotive company in the mid-west contacted me regarding their Bryant grinding spindles. Their ID Bryant spindles were only lasting from 1 week to 3 months between repairs. The repair company they were using was voiding the warranties sighting contamination and charging them for full repairs. At $5000.00 or more each repair the costs were adding up. They felt a repair company should be trying to solve the cause of failures and reduce the total repair expenditures. That’s when they called Northland Tool & Electronics.

Mazak VTC200B Spindle Repair

Mazak VTC200B 12,000 rpm 40 taper Oil Mist Lubrication This customer has multiple Mazak VTC200B machines in their facility that were experiencing frequent spindle failures. We disassembled the first spindle and found that the design was very poor. The nut for the rear bearings was hydraulic and had the long shaft that attaches to the drive motor bolted to it. The problem with this setup occurs if there is any misalignment with the drive motor, any vibration in the drive motor or if any number of ground surfaces are not virtually perfect. Any flaws in these areas subjects stress directly to the rear bearing causing premature failure.

Northland Tool BIG PLUS Spindle Repair Services

Ensure you’re getting the maximum performance from your BIG PLUS tooling by having your spindles repaired by Northland Tool & Electronics. To receive the maximum benefit from your BIG PLUS tooling your spindle must meet the same high quality standards you have come to expect from BIG PLUS. Northland Tool has worked closely with the engineers at BIG Kaiser to develop a repair program exclusively for your BIG PLUS spindles. Special care and attention will be given to the tooling interface, drawbar, bearing journals and balance, insuring that we provide the extreme accuracy required.

Mori Seiki SH500 BIG PLUS

Mori Seiki SH500 BIG PLUS This customer was referred to us by another of our customers. This spindle had been repaired several years ago and during that repair the taper was kiss ground. Unfortunately that made the BIG PLUS taper unusable. We were able to repair the taper to BIG PLUS standards and rebuild the spindle. Click Here for a Spindle Evaluation by our experienced staff.

Gamfior Spindle Repair Programs

Gamfior E13779M One of our success stories in the aerospace industry comes from a manufacturer of wing spars. Their 5 axis machines were experiencing frequent spindle failures and it was taking the OEM in excess of 30 days to complete the repairs. This lead to them purchasing 2 spare spindles for each machine they were running. The first thing we did when we were called in was to perform an on-site evaluation. We met with the plant manager and the maintenance department to determine the scope of the problem and the goals for the spindle repair program.

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