Has anyone tried replacing viceroy bearings?

[Farmer Giles]

Just looking at the intermediate pulley, the diagram and the fact that there is a circlip at both ends implies that to get the bearings out, after taking out the circlips, you push the shaft out of the bearings then you pull the bearings out of the pulley. I gave the shaft a playful thump with a hide mallet and no movement, given that the pulley is unlikely to be available anymore I will have a think about the next step.

I may go and see a neighbour who has an hydraulic press and various fittings for pressing bearings and shafts out. Ideally all the pressure should be on the bearings and shaft not the alloy pulley. Once I have the shaft out I can apply a bit of heat to the alloy pulley and pull the bearings out.

 

[graduate_owner]

Mine doesn't have a spindle lock either

K

 

[jw00d]

Thanks for the pics Andy.

On closer inspection mine doesn't even have the hole to mount it so I'd have to look at drilling and tapping that as well. Ironically they did remember to install the machine plate reminding me to disengage the lock before starting the lathe!

Once the last xmas presents are finished off I'm definitely going to give mine a clean out and investigate if anything needs changing. I'll look out for some belt spray as well, definitely sounds easier than a full disassembly.

Good luck with the pulley removal.

Jamie

 

[Farmer Giles]

Thanks Jamie

On closer inspection of the diagram, it appears that the shaft and bearings need to come out of the pulley as one, then you take the bearings off the shaft due to the thickening off the shaft in the middle. I didn't think that the pulley would fit in my fly press but it does with ease, so the pulley assembly will be put in the oven on a low heat until tender It's too big to be warmed sufficiently by my heat gun to make a difference and it all has to heat up.

Aluminium has approximately double the coefficient of thermal expansion than steel, so even though in the oven the bearing will get to the same temperature, the pulley should expand more making it easier to push the bearings and shaft out.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

After consulting my good friends on the MIG Welding forum for advice, I pressed the shaft and bearings out using my fly press and a collection of bits of old pipe, plates with holes in them and drifts. I really need to make the stand that I bought the 50mm box and 6mm plate for about 4 years ago....

The way to get it out is to press out the shaft, the top bearing stays in place and the shaft comes out with the bottom bearing. You have to do that as there are inner circlips too so pressing the bearing is not going to succeed.

The pulley was full of swarf, there was no evidence of the bearings spinning in the pulley so I can only assume this was from the original machining, all cleaned out now though.

The remaining bearing pushed off easily in the press with a bit of pipe

Reassembly is more or less doing it in reverse however you need to be more careful as you don't want to damage the new bearings. The bearings are snug in the pulley but with a bit of heat in the pulley they don't put up much resistance, the shaft is much tighter when pushing on the bearings so you don't want to be pushing on the periphery of the bearings, but on the centre ring when pushing them onto the shaft.

Just need to wait for the new belts now, will they get here for Christmas or not.....

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

The belts arrived but not the super duper Dunlop premium, just standard belts. Oh well, I shall use them then get onto the supplier for some cash back - sigh.

First, make sure the top pulley fits on the shaft nicely and will move from side to side. I had to polish the burrs off the key. I forgot to mention this earlier, but the allen grub screw is actually doubled, i.e. there is one that screws to the key to hold the pulley in horizontal position, then there is another on top of it to stop the grub screw from coming undone. The following photos show this.

Now this moves up and down nicely, take the pulley off again, put the shaft it into the inboard end of the headstock and thread it through the pulley and don't forget to put the belt onto the shaft!

Now put the bearing on the outboard end of the shaft and press home with a couple of clamps pressing on the two bearings, I used the lathe tool rest to help hold one clamp in position, it is easier if there are two of you but doable with one. By applying pressure evenly on both sides and gently tapping the inboard end of the shaft mine went in nicely. The bearing on the inboard end sits proud of the headstock, but on the outboard end it is rebated a few mm, so you need to find a nice spacer to push it home, you could use and old bearing but you may get it stuck in the housing. Sorry about the picture quality, but I think you get the idea.

I'm having trouble with the left hand thread lock nut, I must have burred the thread a little during bearing removal so I will give that a bit of TLC with a needle file and continue tomorrow. Before I do the nu up completely, I will put the intermediate pulley in place and check that the belt is the right size

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

Well, only 3 months later, but my wood turning course is coming up in April so I thought I better extract the digit. I did get sidetracked with building work and the meddings renovation and other stuff.

The top belt was just a little too tight at A51 so an A52 is on order and the bottom belt was as baggy as a wizards sleeve at A43 so an A41 is also on order. I sorted out the left hand threaded locking nut too with the help of a thread chaser from my neighbour.

I really hate swapping the belts but didn't want a nut-link belt so hopefully this will be the last time I have the main shaft and intermediate pulley out. You have to be an octopus to get the shaft, pulley key and belt on without damaging that left hand thread and have a degree in gynaecology to get the intermediate pulley in place with top belt, bottom belt while lining up the two adjusting screws that like to fall off through the small door hole while lying on your back. Fortunately I used to be a gynaecologist, I hold do it now and again now to keep my hand in

So by next weekend she should be back together with new bearings at last.

 

[Farmer Giles]

I can confirm A52 and an A41 belts did the trick. I now have the lathe back up and running with new bearings in motor, intermediate pulley and headstock. I guess I best start doing some turning now

Back to the main renovation thread for the last few bits of work.

 

[Bigbud78]

Looks awesome, just had a read through your main thread with much interest as I'm currently looking for the same machine for a similar project. If I find something suitable I'll be posting for help no doubt :lol:

 

[Farmer Giles]

One tip, change the bearings before painting it! I had a few paint chips that I covered with a small brush and a smattering of choice swear words