LATHE SPINDLE BEARINGS (Part 2) - REASSEMBLE AND TEST of 13x40 Engine Lathe Headstock 

Very informative! There’s a lot of things I didn’t know about bearings that you talked about. Thank you!

Very nicely done Yuchol. I think it will work. Monitor and adjust after you use it for awhile. Great job.

Outstanding job Yuchol, I don’t see how anyone could do a more meticulous approach-Well Done ✅

Thanks for a very good instructional and assembly video. I didn't know spindle bearings were marked for runout and the importance of installing them the right way. I'm an experienced machinist and toolmaker but still learning new stuff every day. One point about precision flat stones; Illustrations always show them used dry but I've found they work much better with a light spray of WD-40. The lubricant flushes the embedded metal and grit particles to the surface and keeps the stones clean. Continue to rub together to keep them flat but lubricate lightly for better performance. You will feel the difference.

Another reason why Dean Smith and Grace lathes are best. They never break.

Great video on the rebuild. Wow, for what you found and had to fix, Jet's Quality Inspection process needs work. Especially as prod Jet is of their products. Glad to hear you added magnets in the gearbox. That helps a lot to catch wear metal. Your rebuild turned out great. Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting you probably have a nice lathe for many years to come . The magnets are a great idea already working especially after you were so clean and carfull thanks for taking the time to share kind regards Shaun 😀😀

You sure brought me bad luck. :) About 30 days after watching your video my small 13x40 just like yours started having spindle bearing issues, like getting way tighter! But, thanks to your video, I'm not walking into it blind!

While I haven’t done this for a long time, people should be aware, before doing this themselves, that it’s a lot more work (and frustration) than he’s making it seem. One problem with using magnets to catch chips is that they don’t catch non ferrous metals, plastic, etc. A lot of people are using them, but be aware of that.

I have a Kent 17x40. I pulled the cover off the headstock the other day and found way more metal than I would like to see. I'm going to change the oil a few times and install some additional magnets. Probably will have to replace all the bearings at some point, but don't have time right now. Mine was made in Taiwan in the late 90s, and they still sell the same machine today.

Great work! For the main spindle bearing oil holes, make a pipe cleaner into a V, shove down hole, then flatten the legs. I know you put the magnets there, which is a great idea, but this will help stop any non magnetic material getting down and into the bearings. I have seen this on some old lathes I rebuilt, definitely stopped some junk!

Good job, and good work. How nice it is so see & hear someone who doesn’t think they know everything! New subscriber - keep up the good work thanks mate.

Awesome work Yuchol. You have a better than new lathe. When I went to adult school taking machining classes they had a Jet lathe and I never liked the fit and finish. It seems you should go consult with Jet and help them up their game. Such nice work.

Great work! I'm glad for you that you were able to save so much money on bearings, wow, big savings! 2/10ths..... not bad at all! I could live with that :) Thanks for sharing this very informative rebuild! Much appreciated! :)

great job - I've repaired many straight drive automotive transmissions but this thing was far more complicated

A very interesting project I am not sure that I have the patience to do it with my lathe I just put head phones on and go for it. My lathe is a MetalMaster 300 mm x 900 mm or in your speak 12 in x 36 in made in the land of way to many people and it is noisy so may be one day I will er-build it. A great video and very informative.

The thing people forget is there is a reason why certain machines are cheaper, they are not made, assembled or QC,d by craftsmen as that machine is going to be 10x the cost

Fantastic work. Impressive attention to detail.

Quite the undertaking. Well done! Thanks for sharing! Cheers from Canada

Thanks, Yuchol. That was a worthwhile project and I'm pretty sure you've reset your lathe's lifetime back to better than new.

Nice work as usual. Thanks for sharing, now go make some stuff!

Great job Yuchol. I admire your tenacity to do an excellent job on all details of a project. Thanks for taking us along and take care.

Great job.OCD is beneficial when doing a job like that.Too bad that Jet didn’t do the job right in the first place.

Great job 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼. I would have put a date with a sharpie marker on the inside the case so the next guy that has to re- bearing will know how long ago the new bearings were installed.

Great video, thank you. I think when reviewing something like this we need to remember how much these lathes cost. We all want things to be perfect but that might not be possible out of the box with the budget we (hobby people)have. If we paid by the hour for the improvements that were made in this video would we still choose this lathe?

Great video. I love the music :) Do you think it would be feasible to make a crude lathe gearbox out of a motorcycle gearbox?

Very well done! You did a very fine job and you improved your lathe. Bravisimo! Thanks for sharing. Guess Randy kept you on course, guess you could say he helped you keep your bearings. Lol 😉

I HAVE RUN AND WORKED ON MANY / MANY MACHINES AND I GIVE YOU 100% ON YOUR REBUILD !!! P.S. ~ CHEEP MANUFACTURES @ ANY PRICE REALLY PISS ME OFF... MADE IN MY USA +++ ~

I think it was Earl's job to deburr everything on your lathe and he called in sick that day. You did a great job and I think you should change your Channels name to "Yuchol the lathe whisperer."

Good job, I would like to see other videos like this

Hello Yuchol, I heard you say you are not an expert and that may well be true But, you are showing and using 10 times more common sense than most of the so-called experts use, and this is from my 67 years of experience. Keep up the good work and sensible methodology. It works! MoK

Yup, Jet has crossed themselves off the list.

I enjoyed this video, and I am glad to know I am not the only one that has OCD about things like this. Excellent job.

😂😂 playing a bearing expert in the bedroom, there’s some jokes in that

I think you deserve a medal. This was a deeply thoughtful, professional, video that clearly resulted in a vastly improved product. Happy lathing!

It's truly scary how much debris you've removed from the gearbox. You must sleep better at night knowing that it's now clean inside. Regards, Mark Presling 😃🇦🇺

Great work, thanks for sharing

Nice job on the rebuild love it

Great job. Awesome work.

Well Done

great job Yuchol! you definitely improved your lathe in doing this overhaul job...jet should be ashamed of what they put on the market. keep us posted about the results you had with that project...please!

You did a real fine job Yuchol. I know it's hard to let it go when it's not perfect, but some (inherited) imperfections are better accepted than invested in, as you've wisely concluded. Congratulations on a terrific outcome :)

Great! I have the Jet GH-1440-W and it is noisy too. I blame the motor (single phase) for most of it but now with your experiences I'm also believing that the machine is in need of a head-stock clean-up and bearing replacement as well. I must thank you for your insights on this project! I have priced all of the bearings so getting ready... I'll also be looking for one of those ape T shirts - love it! I chuckled out loud! - 7-2-24 WELL this machine was a genuine mess! At some time in its life the oil was mixed with something that wasn't compatible so the oil was brown and thick - had stained the gears and shafts... The motor also had a melted run capacitor and it was growling. I like the three phase with VFD - that's going to happen. The documentation for these machines is quite poor so anyone doing this job needs to note carefully on disassembly the sizes of spacers and etc. Your video bailed me out when I mixed the two spacers on 'D' - thanks again!!

Yuchol, you did a superb job. I am getting ready to do the same to my lathe watching you gives me confidence in the process. Thanks for this

Excellent job !. Regards from the UK.Wise words from Randy Richard by the way , sometimes perfection is unobtainable all the time !.

Outstanding! Thank you for sharing such quality practice while remaining humble and honest. Job well done!

Great project Yuchol, and great result (subjectively! qualitatively!) :-) Brilliant work and I love the look of the clean fresh paint and the clean gears and so on. It will pay you back for decades I think. Cheers, Craig

Hi I'm very impressed with your work, It's important that an inferred thermometer should never be used to find the temperature of a shiny surface (a bearing in this case). It can be off many degrees, reading the reflected temp in the room instead of the surface of the part. always use a marking stick designed to melt at a specific temp of the bearing. Nice work Rich

GREAT JOB, ENJOY YOUR VIDEO'S

Brilliant video series, I am super impressed with how meticulous you are to detail and how clean your work area is. Now I am inspired to go change the bearing on the headstock of my lathe, they are due for renewal. It’s a pity on so many tools and machines nowadays that one needs to spend so much time to remanufacture the parts to speck and do all the cleaning and demurring to get them to run the way they were intended. Once again, brilliant job, I really enjoy your videos.

Yuchol, I'm impressed mate. Job well done. I thought I recognised a bit of O.C.D. My eldest daughter(28y/o) has it. When it comes to machinery, a little O.C.D. is a good thing, if you know what I mean. Cheers from Australia.

I'm proud of have watched this video ,although as you said you´re not an ¨expertise¨,the whole job was very professional ,qualified,i´m going to take example...........

the only true test is put it under a heavy cut load, but it sounded smooth at 1200 RPM. Also an even better way to check the bearing preload is lateral movement measuring like setting up a rear axle. set shaft all the way against one bearing with moderate pressure zero gauge, and push the other way....should be very close to zero without being dead zero (too tight).

Outstanding video. You have excellent work habits for this type of work. However, the initial spindle bearing adjustment should be set by measuring "Lift" at the spindle nose. Running-in bearings that are not tight enough, results in improper wear pattern.

Great example of rebuilding the Jet. I have more appreciation for this model lathe. That gearbox design seems to be used in other lathes. How did you keep things organized with the different shafts of gears? Thanks for sharing this. Is it true you catch a hint of how tight the accuracy of a lathe might be, by the cost of the bearings?

I have been eagerly awaiting when this lathe was running, great job as always. Thank you for letting us join the journey.

Dear brother I designed a 12 speed lathe Headstock by watching your both bearing replacement videos but it's not working properly I think lot of points are missed due to the fast videos could you please upload the original full video with normal play back so that I could come out of the problem in which I am badly stuck. Please do give me some solution otherwise my job will be in danger I designed it for a company in which I am working with.

I wouldn’t put the magnets in the top channel as there is the possibility they could fill up with metal filings and block the oil flow to your spindle bearings (unless you plan on regularly cleaning them).

Yuchol, watch a video from Watch Wes Work on Aug 15 2017 , he does a great job of explaining headstock rebuild on a lathe. He also explains how to measure front bearing to cover clearances. His lathe cover and bearing had improper clearances with the new bearing. This is important to see that the cover exerts the proper pressure on the bearing race. His new front bearing did not match the front cover clearances even though it was the proper bearing . Check it out as I did not see you measure any clearances.

Often you can change the frequency of the VFD, your is set to the one that drives my ears crazy.

random question, how thick is that spindle wall on the bearing nut /left side?

nice to see what is inside of a newer lathe, i have an old colchester and all the gears rattle and make strange noises, like some strange metal symphony, its possibly older than i but never has had a failure

I'm certain you'll be taking it apart some more and making improvements.

Very much enjoyed watching you go through this project Yuchol. You are very meticulous. It’s nice to see things done correctly. It’s unfortunate that JET didn’t do the same. I’m also a hobbyist, but from the opposite side of Washington in the Spokane area. Enjoy your videos, keep them coming!

Read thru the comments and didn't see anyone suggesting freezing the races for an easer install.

Great job well done. I’m disappointed a new Jet lathe would have these types of problems. OCD used to be called perfectionist which I prefer.

It’s disappointing to buy a supposedly good quality machine, have it fail prematurely and find all that trash inside. Nice repair, though. You should be good to go for many years now. I would be sure to change the oil regularly to prevent any further pain. Thanks for the video. John

I watched your video of you reassembling the headstock of your lathe & you were talking about the low quality of machined parts . to deburr the lock ring or any other I.D. / O.D. CRATEX makes a rubberized abrasive in different grits , in wheels & sticks that are VERY versatile !!!! The smallest discs are only 3/8 of an inch in diameter ( 0.375 ) . You can get these on Ebay for a reasonable cost These can be used with a die grinder or Dremel tool . MSC carries them but you'll get a better price on Ebay . NICE video , Good job , thank you for reading my comment , no need to reply to this comment sincerely B. Fox

Hi Yuchol, Just watched your excellent project from down here in Melbourne Australia. I'm wondering if a thick paper or cork gasket at the top edge of the gearbox cover might be a consideration...or is that my OCD speaking? Would love your comments/findings on how the gearbox lid seals now after your stoning and deburring of the mating surfaces....? Cheers Rodney

Nicely done! The inside of that thing looks much better with the white, and any subsequent debris would be easier to see. I like the little magnets in the spindle feed wells, I think that will happen with mine next time I pop the lid and it gets serviced.

Well done Yuchol, expert or not. Thank you!

I think, based on your video, that if I, 1. had the money and 2. was disposed to buy a Jet lathe, I'd offer them half of what they are asking considering the shoddy assembly techniques, i.e. cleanliness, and stupid design of the equipment. The carriage lock and the tailstock quill lock are prime examples of the stupid design.

I would say that you have improved that lathe better than new by a factor of 2-3 times. You've cleaned up some really bad deburring, you probably installed the bearings better than they were. The magnets will keep the filings where they can't do damage. And the paint will allow you to see issues. Glad you took the handles off. Question, is that hardner used with regular rustoleum, or is the rustoleum a different product than we normally see in HD or Lowes.

I'm guessing that the pointy head who first determined that OCD was a disorder doesn't have as clean a shop or tooling that works as well as yours. I salute you and your OCD sir. I'm inspired by it.

Very well done Yuchol, you have made a silk purse out of a sow's ear! See? Your OCD comes in useful occasionally! I love the new white interior, much better than that rancid half painted yellow. I still say sue the arse off of Jet, as their factory practices are crap and they need to address this issue. If buyers of new lathes don't pull them up and complain thenthey will let it slide and carry on their bad practices. However this is as good a way to advise people not to purchase a Jet lathe lol. I love your vids keep them coming sir!

Did you give the bearings any preload?

Hi Yuchol great job .I just bought a new 1440 Chinese lathe after running it for five min. running at 755 RPM it sounded like a small change in load on the motor so i pulled the cover and there was a lot of metal and the oil was so dirty i could hardly see thru it and the oiling rail was filthy also. Hope i caught it in time that's a lot of work . Hope yours is running well after all this time Thanks the heat gun was a good idea also is your lathe Chinese made .

Looking to know what the markings were on the spindle bearings to identify positions. I'm in stalling some and I am trying to get with Timken but they have not responded. can you help me out for what I am looking for.

You started out with the goal to make it better, and you definitely accomplished that. Your lathe is better than ever now. Nice job.

Only 900 or so likes? You deserve many more!

Loved it Yuchol .Great job , I hope Lance and Patrick were not watching. Patrick would pass out . take care pal, Cheers Ade.

Looks great! Love the attention to detail, satisfies my OCD as well. Having done similar on my mini lathe, it's very pleasing to get it put back together and make a cut. And that was a very beautiful cut.

great video. thanks for the info and advice.

I think any machinist who is worth his salt has to have a certain level of OCD otherwise he or she doesn't care enough to do quality work. I think that goes for any skilled manual job. Thanks for your effort and stay safe.

Glad you used the run out markings on the spindle bearings, gave you that tip last month :) Second, heating up the cones to mount them easily :) Now for run out: adjust the head of the spindle using an indicator,. Head has adjusters marked with a V Same applies for 3 jaw chuck ( I noticed it has run out adjusters too). A job well done with the tools available! Final note what a crappy shit piece of workmanship JET sells! Unacceptable for any machine tool worthy of that name to leave a factory never mind at price level! Good luck with a decent running machine.

when painting the inside of your head stock, did you have to rough the original paint or anything besides cleaning with acetone and mineral spirits, any adhesive issues with enamel on enamel ? I have a similar situation with mine with chipped paint etc

Good work. It is a shame they did not do that good of a job at the factory. It almost seems like they are sabotaging their products.

Great job! Thanks for taking the time to document this. I'm sure others will find it helpful if they need to replace bearings in their headstocks!

HI I purchased a Grizzly 12 X 36 gunsmith lathe 2 years ago, I didn't expect to get something like a Logan just something that was some what accurate. wow was I mistaken, upon start up I had bearing noise. they want you to "break in the bearings" by running slow in both directions..? these are supposed to be precision units. my concerns are high and it has oil leaks too. I called Grizzly and found them very rude and of no help. I removed the cover of the head assembly and could not beleave the amount of machining was left in there, the main head bearing oil hole was blocked with debris and the back bearing cover was full of chips. I cleaned best that I could and changed the oil but I still have a low speed noise. I chose to live with it. the main shaft bearings seem to be ok, who knows, it runs quiet at high speeds and the cutoff tool work good. I also added magnets to the same places that you did with strong concerns of keeping them away from bearings. Rich

I think that the way you cleaned everything up in the headstock really added to the overall quality of the machine. These companies start with pretty decent stuff, but they’re cutting corners to meet a cost target. It’s a pity, because the basics are there to produce a really good hobby lathe. That white paint job really shows off the internal parts, which again just need a bit more care and attention. By doing this restoration, you now have a much better lathe. I will be checking the spindle bearings in my lathe. I have always felt there was something not right and suspected there wasn’t enough preload. One thing that seemed odd was that I can gear the spindle bearings make a noise like a rollerblade wheel that needs new bearings. I’ve never heard that noise on other lathes. Maybe the preload isn’t high enough and maybe they’re just shot. I’ve never bothered with them before, but I’m soon going to be doing gunsmithing work that requires high precision. Now that I’ve read enough and watched some very helpful videos, I know how to set the preload correctly.

too late im using this as a how to!!

Exelente trabajo amigo yo también e realizar ésos trabajo de varias marcas de torno y me gusta como haces los trabajos buen video

Excellent content! Thank you.

Great job and super great sense of humor chinggu!!!!

Great job, Yuchol! Pity that Jet put out such rough work. But if you ask me, she's sounding really good from where I'm sitting 🙂. You'll be wary for a month or so, every sound will launch a full scale investigation, you may wake up in a cold sweat for a few nights initially, yelling " FIRE! ". But eventually, the overwhelming awesomeness of having a lathe will take over and all will be well. In the meantime though, I'd put my therapist on speed dial 😉. Thanks for sharing! Cheers! 😁

You are really good at cleaning, you will make someone a lovely wife...

You are a brave person, my lathe similar to yours is leaking oil. Did you put in any oil seals? If not, where is my oil leaks coming from?

Gday Yuchol, it’s all back to better then brand new, you did a great here, at least you know what you have got now which is a good thing, the run out in the spindal is incredibly good, I wish you many happy trouble free years of machining mate, take care, Matty

Good work Yuchol I did not know about indicator marks. Thanks for sharing

when can i bring my lathe for servicing sir ? :D