On 24 Jul 2004 06:41:43 -0700, (rohamm) wrote:


The drawback to the spindle oil is that it ends up running out onto the work.
Since I frequently mill wood, that can be an issue. Hence my interest in
quantifying 'not too little, and not too much, but just the right amount'.

Nearly all such spindles are direct loss lubrication..ie the bearings
are not sealed to retain oil and leak out down the quill etc. Or
sealed poorly due to age etc.
This really is indeed an issue when milling woods and paper based
materials. Ive seen some home made slingers that clamp around the
quill that folks have put together for this, but the only really good
solution is finding another type of mill, use a router head, or run it
for a bit before putting any wood down and hope that one forlorn
droplet doesnt finally wend its way down and around and jump off on
that piece of work.

Ive been seeing some high speed 30 taper spindles on Ebay recently,
that perhaps you could make up a sub spindle that will clamp to your
ram or head for wood work.

Ive got a shop I service, that has a number of old Bridgeports that
have a simple die grinder type unit mounted on the end of the quill
with a simple pinch clamp made from aluminum plate. They use them for
fine work in phenolics and such. Easy to install, easy to remove, and
allows them to use the table and down feed as normal. A dremel tool
could be so adapted as well. This allows them to get 10,000-30,000 rpm
oil free, and still allows them to use the regular motor/spindle when
they need to. They make the clamp from 1" aluminum plate, so they
only loose 1" of spindle down travel as the clamp goes on the first 1"
of the quill.

Just a heads up.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke