Emco FB2 Quill bearings

Hi guys, have an Emco FB2, has anybody here had a go at replacing the needle roller bearings and radial shaft seal inside the quill? is it possible? any tips?

Cheers,

Sam

Hello Sam,

I replaced the roller bearings on my FB2 with a bush made from bronze. It was moderately easy to do but needs to be a very good fit. Did mine about ten years ago and it remains free running without play. In the first place, I replaced the bearings with a new set, but wear on the shaft still left me with play. Hence the home-made bush.

Ray G

Hi Ray thanks for that, I will try replacing the bearing like for like for a start as the shaft does not appear to have a lot of wear failing that will try the bronze bush. When you replaced the bearings was it just a simple case of swapping out the needle roller cage? Or was there a sleeve inside the quill that neeeds to be extracted and a replacement pressed in? Do you happen to know the bearing part number? Thanks, Sam

Sam, I contacted my EMCO agent in South Africa and they say..

The Entire quill is still available from EMCO and EMCO does not sell the bearings for 'home fitment' .

Even in the Spares Handbook list, only the complete quill is listed - E3A-011-000 -

EMCO indicates the pre-load on the needle bearing is critical for proper operation and the fitment process is -

Central shaft is cooled to 0deg C, outer quill tube is heated to 80deg C, Needle outer cage at 20deg C and pressed into outer tube, and quill slipped inside of bearing inner...The description was in Austrian, so hope the translation did not result in loss of intent..

I have three FB2's varying in age from 35 years to 28 years, and the quill bearings are still fine..so never looked inside, but I do have all the service manuals and service parts lists - not breakdown of the quill shown in any!

Joe

I'm sure I remember seeing something in this forum about the conversion of the needle roller bearing (& the others, of course) to taper roller bearings. Now I can't find it. Perhaps I'm mistaken. However, I think Graham Meek may have been involved. His earlier posts seem to have been redacted from various threads, which is most unfortunate for his followers. It's good to see his return to the forum. Perhaps he'll notice this thread and enlighten us.

This topic was discussed 17 May 2012. I do know how long the posts are kept. If it is useful I can copy my parts of the conversations and re-post them. My posts from that era are retained.

Should read “I do not know how long the posts are kept.”

Raymond, I think all your posts are still there. I can find discussion about bronze bushes, but nothing about taper rollers. I think the relevant posts have been removed.

Sam,

I have sent you a PM

Gray,

Posted by Kiwi Bloke 1 on 26/09/2018 08:41:11:

I'm sure I remember seeing something in this forum about the conversion of the needle roller bearing (& the others, of course) to taper roller bearings. Now I can't find it. Perhaps I'm mistaken. However, I think Graham Meek may have been involved. His earlier posts seem to have been redacted from various threads, which is most unfortunate for his followers. It's good to see his return to the forum. Perhaps he'll notice this thread and enlighten us.

You were right, guilty as charged. Please find below the missing images

Gray,

Update: with the Needle bearing part number known I was able to forward this on to the bearing supplier and they are working on sourcing a replacement. I was also able to extract the old bearing and outer race from the quill, it came pretty easily a few taps after a little bit of heat.

The tapered roller bearing, is this a replacement of one of the ball bearings at the top of the quill? What would be the advantage and would it be worth doing?

Hi Sam,

The Quill assembly is all new. It is 8 mm longer than the standard Quill in order to accommodate the front taper roller bearing. The keyway slot shown would break into the bore of the new bearing on a standard Quill. The top bearing is an angular contact bearing.

The Sleeve was made from EN 8 and the new spindle was machined and ground from EN24T. The whole purpose of this new quill was to try a new bearing arrangement. At the same time I was making a new standard Quill sleeve with a larger outside diameter, for a better fit in the milling head bore.

Was this new set-up any better than the standard set-up? That is hard to say, I could not see any visible difference. There was no improvement in milled surfaces. If anything the standard needle roller bearing will withstand more load than the taper roller bearing, according to the bearing catalogue.

Regards

Gray,