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Question: Split bearing housing for roller bearings?

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vtsteam:
Thinking about the headstock casting design for my new lathe, I was wondering if it would be inadvisable to split the spindle's roller bearing housing (ie base and caps)  assuming sufficient material thickness and support otherwise.

I'm familiar with splitting the bearing housing for sleeve bearings, but I was wondering if it is ever done for tapered roller bearings? Not experienced with these.

It  would be nice to be able to remove the spindle assembly without having to use a puller. It would also mean I could do the casting in two parts, and more easily fit a heavy casting pour in the crucible capacity I have.

I know bearing preload will add some stress to a bolted housing, but I can make the base cap and bolts quite stout and well supported in that area. Shims can adjust a slight radial pressure on the bearing assuming a close bore to start with.

Anyway, thoughts?

awemawson:
If the casting / housing is split, and the mating faces are true, then so long as they are dowelled together and then bolted together normal pre-load can still be applied I would have thought.

Are you planning gears within your headstock Steve ?

vtsteam:
No drive or back gears planned at this point, Andrew. The Gingery didn't have any either, though they can be added later as a mod.

vtsteam:
Another helpful aspect if I can split it is that I can probably use the same boring bar and setting to bore both bearing recesses at front and back without changing anything. Each recess has an inside lip, and the boring bar can't make it through that, but if the cap was removed the tool bit could face up, slide through to the other side, and then replace the cap, and bore the other recess.

I would definitely prefer to do it that way than remove the boring bar from the boring jig setup, or move the tool bit in and out to cut both recesses.

John Rudd:
VT,
Where I worked before I retired, we had some big fans on fans fired heaters that had split bearing housings as you describe ....these bearings were quite large....4-5 inches diameter, the fans running at about 3000 rpm or so.....

I thought your idea would fine...

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