DIYbanter - View Single Post - Headstock bearing noise

Ecnerwal

In article .com,
wrote:

When you rotate the
headstock spindle by hand you can somewhat hear the bearings make noise
but it is neither a rough or high pitched sound.

There doesnt seem to be any play in the spindle.

A: bearings always need to be replaced.

B: but not until they are causing a noticeable problem.

What gets damaged if, say, the bearings are a touch on the dry side? The
bearings, and nothing else. So when they are adequately damaged as to be
a problem, you'll replace them, and all damage (potentially) caused by
not replacing them today will be fixed.

Meanwhile, if, say the noise is not from dried out or damaged bearings
(unlikely at 2 years, especially if it's a General, not a General
International), but is, say, simply the seals making some noise, as
sometimes happens, or belt noise, it may be many years before anything
occurs that causes the bearings to actually become damaged, and then
you'll replace them.

So, until there is noticeable roughness or play in your spindle, I don't
see any need to replace the bearings. It's not like a car that's going
to strand you beside the road if you fail to catch a wheel bearing in
time. If you feel better with a set of spare bearings on hand, get some
spare bearings, but do try to label them well and store them on the
machine somewhere, so that your kids won't toss them out as useless
random junk as they are parting out your shop after you've gone on to
your reward (many years hence, hopefully)...

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