Three-Bearing Quill
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Three-Bearing Quill
Three-Bearing Quill
- Attachments
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- QuillSetUp1.JPG (109.8 KiB) Viewed 2864 times
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- QuillSetUp2.JPG (74.23 KiB) Viewed 2839 times
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- QuillSetUp3.JPG (134.32 KiB) Viewed 2842 times
Art in Western Pennsylvania
Here are a few photos of a quill I modified to create a three-bearing model. It uses cheap Chinese bearings that I paid $18.00 for 10 of them and that included shipping -- I didn't want to waste money if the modification wasn't going to pan out.
The metal lathe used was a Craftsman (made by Atlas) 12 x 24" model. It has a through hole of only 25/32" so a steady rest was used together with an independent four-jaw chuck to machine the inside of the quill housing. The stedy rest was a cheap import for a wood lathe and needed a bit of grinding of the base so that it fit on the Craftsman.
Turning the Shopsmith spindle was no problem because it fits into the through hole in the spindle of the Craftsman.
More time was spent setting up the quill housing and spindle in the four-jaw chuck and adjusting the steady rest that actually removing metal.
I picked up a couple of quill assemblies on e-bay to experiment with and must say I'm satisfied with the results. I had wanted to modify a quill for a single bearing model 500, but after turning the quill housing I noticed that it was from a greenie and measured about 1/2" longer than the quill housing from a model 500, and I didn't want to mix parts and then find out it didn't fit. Whenever I get around to making one for the model 500, I'll see if the parts can be swapped around.
After mounding the quill assembly in the greenie, I measured runout at about .001. The spare quill assembly I got off e-bay had a new bearing installed and it had runout of just a bit over that, measuring between .001 and .002.
I used the Harbor Freight bearing puller to both remove the bearing as well as to press/pull on the new bearings.
[ATTACH]12152[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12153[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12154[/ATTACH]
The metal lathe used was a Craftsman (made by Atlas) 12 x 24" model. It has a through hole of only 25/32" so a steady rest was used together with an independent four-jaw chuck to machine the inside of the quill housing. The stedy rest was a cheap import for a wood lathe and needed a bit of grinding of the base so that it fit on the Craftsman.
Turning the Shopsmith spindle was no problem because it fits into the through hole in the spindle of the Craftsman.
More time was spent setting up the quill housing and spindle in the four-jaw chuck and adjusting the steady rest that actually removing metal.
I picked up a couple of quill assemblies on e-bay to experiment with and must say I'm satisfied with the results. I had wanted to modify a quill for a single bearing model 500, but after turning the quill housing I noticed that it was from a greenie and measured about 1/2" longer than the quill housing from a model 500, and I didn't want to mix parts and then find out it didn't fit. Whenever I get around to making one for the model 500, I'll see if the parts can be swapped around.
After mounding the quill assembly in the greenie, I measured runout at about .001. The spare quill assembly I got off e-bay had a new bearing installed and it had runout of just a bit over that, measuring between .001 and .002.
I used the Harbor Freight bearing puller to both remove the bearing as well as to press/pull on the new bearings.
[ATTACH]12152[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12153[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12154[/ATTACH]
Art in Western Pennsylvania
Here are a few photos of a quill I modified to create a three-bearing model. It uses cheap Chinese bearings that I paid $18.00 for 10 of them and that included shipping -- I didn't want to waste money if the modification wasn't going to pan out.
The metal lathe used was a Craftsman (made by Atlas) 12 x 24" model. It has a through hole of only 25/32" so a steady rest was used together with an independent four-jaw chuck to machine the inside of the quill housing. The stedy rest was a cheap import for a wood lathe and needed a bit of grinding of the base so that it fit on the Craftsman.
Turning the Shopsmith spindle was no problem because it fits into the through hole in the spindle of the Craftsman.
More time was spent setting up the quill housing and spindle in the four-jaw chuck and adjusting the steady rest that actually removing metal.
I picked up a couple of quill assemblies on e-bay to experiment with and must say I'm satisfied with the results. I had wanted to modify a quill for a single bearing model 500, but after turning the quill housing I noticed that it was from a greenie and measured about 1/2" longer than the quill housing from a model 500, and I didn't want to mix parts and then find out it didn't fit. Whenever I get around to making one for the model 500, I'll see if the parts can be swapped around.
After mounding the quill assembly in the greenie, I measured runout at about .001. The spare quill assembly I got off e-bay had a new bearing installed and it had runout of just a bit over that, measuring between .001 and .002.
I used the Harbor Freight bearing puller to both remove the bearing as well as to press/pull on the new bearings.
[ATTACH]12152[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12153[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12154[/ATTACH]
The metal lathe used was a Craftsman (made by Atlas) 12 x 24" model. It has a through hole of only 25/32" so a steady rest was used together with an independent four-jaw chuck to machine the inside of the quill housing. The stedy rest was a cheap import for a wood lathe and needed a bit of grinding of the base so that it fit on the Craftsman.
Turning the Shopsmith spindle was no problem because it fits into the through hole in the spindle of the Craftsman.
More time was spent setting up the quill housing and spindle in the four-jaw chuck and adjusting the steady rest that actually removing metal.
I picked up a couple of quill assemblies on e-bay to experiment with and must say I'm satisfied with the results. I had wanted to modify a quill for a single bearing model 500, but after turning the quill housing I noticed that it was from a greenie and measured about 1/2" longer than the quill housing from a model 500, and I didn't want to mix parts and then find out it didn't fit. Whenever I get around to making one for the model 500, I'll see if the parts can be swapped around.
After mounding the quill assembly in the greenie, I measured runout at about .001. The spare quill assembly I got off e-bay had a new bearing installed and it had runout of just a bit over that, measuring between .001 and .002.
I used the Harbor Freight bearing puller to both remove the bearing as well as to press/pull on the new bearings.
[ATTACH]12152[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12153[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]12154[/ATTACH]
- Attachments
-
- QuillSetUp1.JPG (109.8 KiB) Viewed 3056 times
-
- QuillSetUp2.JPG (74.23 KiB) Viewed 3016 times
-
- QuillSetUp3.JPG (134.32 KiB) Viewed 3073 times
Art in Western Pennsylvania
Dusty, no I wasn't having any problem. I want to do some bowl turning and figured my 1980 Shopsmith with it's single-bearing quill probably wasn't up to it. Also, I just wanted to see if it was possible on something other than a monster lathe with a large through hole in the spindle. I figured if two was better than one, then three would be better than two and the additional machining time was minimal compared to set-up time. Clearly it's possible using the four jaw and steady rest. Also my metal working skills are minimal. I'm sorry I didn't make the first one for the model 500 because the greenie needs some work and sounds at times like a bandsaw with bad bearings.
Art in Western Pennsylvania
I was able to modify the single-bearing quill from a model 500 into a three-bearing setup yesterday, similar to the greenie I modified earlier. I had a bit of trouble pressing the bearings into the quill housing after they were installed on the spindle as I machined the housing a bit oversized. So, I mounted the housing in the four-jaw chuck again and used some coarse and then fine emery cloth to polish the inside. After putting the spindle with bearing installed into the freezer for a couple of hours, everything went together with a bit of persuasion.
As previously mentioned, the quill housing from a greenie is about 1/2" longer than one from a model 500. When I swapped the spindle from the 500 into the quill housing from the greenie and installed it into the model 500 headstock, it wouldn't retract fully into the headstock, leaving that extra half inch of the housing hanging out of the headstock. It seemed to run fine that way, but not sure if this would create any sort of problem in the long run because the positive stop created by the clip on the outside of the housing no longer contacts the headstock when the quill is retracted. One could likely compensate by machining another groove in the housing to accept the clip.
I installed the modified quill into a model 510 that has a 2-bearing quill to test it out, but I didn't check for runout and I'm not sure if such a modification would be of any benefit on machine with the two bearings. For testing, it was easier putting it into the 510 rather than digging out the putty in the set screw of the model 500 where it will eventually replace the single-bearing quill that's in it now. Everything ran smooth and quiet through the speed range.
These extra bearings have to improve the performance of the Shopsmith over the single bearing variety. If you've ever had a single-bearing quill out of the headstock, you'll notice how much movement can be had in the splined end of the spindle. With the three bearing installed, the splined end is now rock solid.
It's still too cold in the shop to spend any time there, so I'll have to wait a bit to test out the new setup, especially with some bowl turning where chatter/vibration should be much improved.
As previously mentioned, the quill housing from a greenie is about 1/2" longer than one from a model 500. When I swapped the spindle from the 500 into the quill housing from the greenie and installed it into the model 500 headstock, it wouldn't retract fully into the headstock, leaving that extra half inch of the housing hanging out of the headstock. It seemed to run fine that way, but not sure if this would create any sort of problem in the long run because the positive stop created by the clip on the outside of the housing no longer contacts the headstock when the quill is retracted. One could likely compensate by machining another groove in the housing to accept the clip.
I installed the modified quill into a model 510 that has a 2-bearing quill to test it out, but I didn't check for runout and I'm not sure if such a modification would be of any benefit on machine with the two bearings. For testing, it was easier putting it into the 510 rather than digging out the putty in the set screw of the model 500 where it will eventually replace the single-bearing quill that's in it now. Everything ran smooth and quiet through the speed range.
These extra bearings have to improve the performance of the Shopsmith over the single bearing variety. If you've ever had a single-bearing quill out of the headstock, you'll notice how much movement can be had in the splined end of the spindle. With the three bearing installed, the splined end is now rock solid.
It's still too cold in the shop to spend any time there, so I'll have to wait a bit to test out the new setup, especially with some bowl turning where chatter/vibration should be much improved.
Art in Western Pennsylvania
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