Little John - with spindle fault - good beginner option?

[Beanwood]

Seen a Little John on FB Marketplace.

First thing - is this suitable for a beginner, with no particular project in mind.
Second thing - if it is - it's been calle dout as having play on th espindle bearing. How hard is it to replace the spindle bearing? (I've done wheel bearings on Land/Range rovers by driving out the old tapers if that helps

It's quite cheap - so may already be gone....

Thoughts?

 

[Brad93]

Depends. Imperial bearings can be very expensive

 

[Beanwood]

Depends. Imperial bearings can be very expensive

Aha -thanks Brad - that'll be it! I've seen something mentioning the cost of bearings being expensive. I hadn't considered they'd be imperial.

 

[Fastdruid]

Depends. Imperial bearings can be very very very expensive

I added a couple more "very" in there for you. I was looking at Harrison vertical head bearings the other day (thankfully for someone else). They're a mere £91+vat each...and that's for the horizontal intermediary shaft not the spindle bearings. They're ~£146ea & ~£188. Plus vat of course.

So ~£620 if I need to replace the bearings in it! That is more than I paid for the entire milling machine...and they're not even special precision bearings like the Gamet ones that are in some Harrison lathes!

I wouldn't overly worry about swapping them but I would find out the price of them first.

 

[brightspark]

a good beginners lathe is a one in good condition you will soon get sick with an old knacker thats not very accurate unless you dont want to spend much and just prat about with it

 

[MattF]

a good beginners lathe is a one in good condition you will soon get sick with an old knacker thats not very accurate unless you dont want to spend much and just prat about with it

On the flip side, a bit of a dog means you're not overly worried about beginners cock-ups, (running the toolpost or slide into the chuck being one example), & if you learn to work around deficiencies in the machine, it makes your time with the next, better lathe, more useful/enjoyable.

 

[Brad93]

have you got any pictures of said machine

 

[Brad93]

A quick search through lathes.co.uk seems to suggest that the raglan lathes used timken taper roller bearings. They are imperial. And they had a stepped outer flange.
Putting the part number according to the website into Google presents this:

Timken 16150/16284B TSF Single-Row Taper Roller Bearing 1.5x2.844x0.8125 inch Simply Bearings Ltd

simplybearings.co.uk

 

[northwest]

A quick search through lathes.co.uk seems to suggest that the raglan lathes used timken taper roller bearings. They are imperial. And they had a stepped outer flange.
Putting the part number according to the website into Google presents this:

Timken 16150/16284B TSF Single-Row Taper Roller Bearing 1.5x2.844x0.8125 inch Simply Bearings Ltd

simplybearings.co.uk

Very reasonable I am sure. I seem to remember when I rebuilt my little Centec the Spindle Bearings were a bit salty price wise. Imperial Bearings of course.

 

[Brad93]

Very reasonable I am sure. I seem to remember when I rebuilt my little Centec the Spindle Bearings were a bit salty price wise. Imperial Bearings of course.

Yep £400 isn't the end of the world. Although still a lot to spend on a sub thousand pound lathe I guess.

And if the spindle bearings are worn out, Is the rest of the machine worn?

 

[Beanwood]

Thanks @Brad93 for the Timken link. I was thinking £200 is OK - forgot it'll probably need both ends....so I'd be in for £600 plus whatevr comes next...

The rest of it looks 'tired' from the photos. It's probably another one to walk away from...

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[Brad93]

Yes that would need money put into it.

Hold tight mate, I may have a nice little machine for sale for reasonable money soon. Certainly less than that raglan & new bearings

 

[Lewis_RX8]

I added a couple more "very" in there for you. I was looking at Harrison vertical head bearings the other day (thankfully for someone else). They're a mere £91+vat each...and that's for the horizontal intermediary shaft not the spindle bearings. They're ~£146ea & ~£188. Plus vat of course.

So ~£620 if I need to replace the bearings in it! That is more than I paid for the entire milling machine...and they're not even special precision bearings like the Gamet ones that are in some Harrison lathes!

I wouldn't overly worry about swapping them but I would find out the price of them first.

Aye gamet are bearings mortgage worthy