Spindle bearing gave out mid job on Tuesday

Was running a 316 stainless part and the machine started making this grinding noise I've never heard before. Pulled the cover off and saw metal flakes in the coolant. Had to stop production and call a service guy, cost me 3 days of work. Anybody else had a spindle go on a Friday afternoon rush?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliviabennett10d ago

Three and a half days into a rush job on a titanium part here. The spindle started screaming like a banshee right as the shift change was happening on a Friday. Had metal shavings everywhere in the way lube. Spent the whole weekend figuring out how to explain the delay to the customer without losing my mind.

robert_jones10d ago

That screaming spindle thing... yeah, been there with titanium. @oliviabennett, did you check the drawbar pressure before you ran it? Titanium likes to build up heat fast and that shrieking is usually the collet losing grip. Had a job last month where we found cutting fluid was getting baked onto the taper. Caused the same mess with shavings in the lube. Took three tries to get the pressure right again.