Just curious. Wondering if anyone else experienced bad bearings in the Y-axis bearing blocks right out of the box? I’m in the process of assembling the table and ran into this situation.
I have one bad bearing in two different Y-axis bearing blocks. One bad bearing in an adjustable bearing block and one bad bearing in a non-adjustable bearing block. One bearing barely turns by hand and “ratchets” through it’s rotation as you try to spin it. The other bearing is just very difficult to turn by hand.
Round bearings should spin freely when turned with a finger. They were like this right out of the plastic shipping bag.
I’ve already contacted Langmuir, so hopefully they’ll send me two new bearing blocks. The bearing blocks don’t appear to be easily serviceable. Looks like the bearings are held in the block with a pressed in pin.
Thanks, Bigdaddy2166. Appreciate the part numbers.
Is the pin that holds them in pressed in or just driven in with a punch? Being that this is a brand new machine, I’d prefer if Langmuir just sent me new bearing blocks. But if the bearings are easily changeable, I’d be OK with swapping them out myself, given the parts being sent.
I bought a 50-pack of these 608-2RS bearings just to have on hand. At roughly $.50 each they seem to span the quality gap b/t the cheap “100 pieces for $5” bearings and the Timken bearings, which are $9 each.
If I can figure out how the axle pin comes out, I may just swap them all out. Those bearing blocks are oddly-shaped. I’m betting Langmuir has a fixture that holds the blocks and maybe even an air cylinder/ram that pushes the pin in too, as the assembler holds the bearings in place in the block.
The blocks are aluminum and would likely bend easily if put into a typical shop press with an assortment of steel blocks trying to hold the thing straight.
Thank you again, Bigdaddy. I checked the bearings on the Z-axis bracket and they all turned easily and smoothly, so I think I’ll leave them alone for now. I have shot myself in the foot before with that “While I’m in there already…” mentality most of us tinkerers have. They turned fine, I’ll leave them alone.
My line of thinking is the Z-axis bearings would be easier to swap out once the machine is assembled then the y-axis bearings.
If I was being picky, I’d say there’s probably 3-4 other y-axis bearings that don’t turn as smoothly as they should. But there’s definitely 2 bearings that are non-functional and those are the 2 I contacted Langmuir about.
I may just swap them all out for the bearings I bought and linked to above. But that really depends on the odds of me damaging the aluminum housings trying to get the pin out and back in. I’ll probably clamp one up in the rubber jaws of my bench vise and give it a few love taps with a punch and hammer just to gauge how difficult they’d be to remove/replace.
Sure would appreciate any feedback from anyone who has replaced the y-axis bearings before. How did you do it, tools used, etc. Thanks.
Well, I’ve established that the pin is in there pretty tightly, and that I don’t know which side of the pin to push from to get it out.
Tried a few not so gentle taps with a 1/4 punch and hammer from each end and the pin didn’t budge. Tried twice to put it in the shop press but I don’t have a whole bunch of tooling to hold the block in place and the punch just shot out like a missile. I always wear safety glasses, btw. Learned my lesson years ago.
If the bearing block was steel, I’d be wailing on it until the pin or I gave up. But it’s aluminum and that stuff bends just looking at it. So I guess I’ll standby for further guidance. I tried, at least.
From which end of the pin? There’s a rounded end and a flat end. On the flat end I could see faint marks that looked like they were from being hit. If that was the case, they were driven in from the flat end, which would mean to remove them, I’d hit the round end. Not easy with a flat nosed punch.
Nope, Leo actually. But I overthink everything. Looks like I raised a small burr in the bearing block on the flat end of the pin which would indicate the pin is digging in. Which means it was driven in from the round end and I need to whack the flat end to remove it. They must have a special jig with a concave-headed pin to assemble these things.
I’ll try again later. About to head out of the house. Thanks.
I was pretty shocked at the cost of the Timken bearings. Replacing all 32 of the Y-axis bearings with Timkens would cost $288. l can’t see spending that much to retrofit a hobby machine. If I were a business and this machine and it’s parts were business expenses, that would be a different story.
I can’t say for sure, but I’d hazard a guess that the $.50 bearings I picked up on Amazon are better quality than the OEM bearings that come with the machine. But if I can’t get those pins out, this conversation is moot.
I’m pretty sure those pins are pressed in. I’ve hit them with a proper-diameter punch and a hammer as hard as I dare to and they didn’t budge.
At this point I’m hoping to hear from Langmuir tomorrow and hopefully they just send me a couple of new complete bearing blocks. I have a shop press but don’t have a lot of specialized tooling to try and press out a 1/4" pin. I’ve got cups and blocks for things like control arm bearings and bigger stuff.
Wow, what fantastic customer service! Happy to report that Langmuir got back to me first thing this morning (Monday morning) and they’re sending me 2 new bearing blocks. I’m extremely pleased with this level of customer service.
Once I receive the new bearing blocks and the assembly of my machine can continue I am going to find out how to get the axle pin out of the bearing block. I won’t have to worry about destroying the block in the process.
Bearings do fail, as do all machines. I will have to replace bearings sooner or later, so I might as well know how to do that.
What I think is really required is a 1/4" pin that is affixed to the ram in a press. Trying to hold a normal 1/4" punch straight between the bearing block and the press ram didn’t work out so well. Think metal projectile and you can picture how that went.
Langmuir is awesome. They didn’t send me two new bearing blocks, they sent me two new bearing ring assemblies, with four bearings each installed! That is above and beyond in anyone’s book. This is great because now I have a few spares. Really great customer service! This morning I had a few minutes and got the y-axis installed. Both sides roll super-easily, as they should. So far, so good.
I asked the tech advisor I’m working with what process is used to assemble the bearing blocks? He shared that the y-axis bearing blocks are one of the few components they don’t assemble in house, so he wasn’t sure. I’m still convinced that axle pin is pressed in.
If I have time this weekend I’ll try hard to get the pin out of one of the bad bearing blocks. I have to know. If the block gets destroyed, so be it.
