Spindle bearing gave out mid-run and I'm split on fixing versus replacing

My Haas VF-2 ate its own spindle bearing last Tuesday during a production run on a 304 stainless job. I was about 30 minutes into a 4 hour cycle when it started making that grinding noise you never want to hear. Now I'm looking at either a $1,200 rebuild kit and a weekend of labor, or just buying a whole new spindle assembly for around $4,500. For those of you who have been through this, did you rebuild or replace, and did you regret either choice?

2 comments

2 Comments

parker_bell2d ago

Have you checked if the taper on your spindle is still good? If the bearing let go while it was spinning, there's a decent chance it scuffed or gouged the taper, and a rebuild kit won't fix that. You'd be stuck with a new spindle assembly anyway after wasting a weekend. I'd pop a test bar in there and run an indicator before making any decision. That way you know if you're fixing a bad spindle or just worn bearings.

olivia_chen352d ago

Wait, you're saying the taper could be damaged too? That's a whole different level of bad.