Hercus head stock taper roller bearings

[neksmerj]

The subject of head stock bearings has been fairly well covered in the Woodwork Forum, however for the benefit of our newer members, I'll include here as well.

Below is some info following a post by PenPal 19th Nov. 2007. Reference to that post and my post 14th Nov. 2007 will provide additional info including Timken drawings.



9" HERCUS HEADSTOCK ROLLER BEARING PRICES.

The following quote came a large bearing supplier in Campbellfield, Melbourne.

Standard grade bearing prices are as follows.

FRONT HEADSTOCK TAPER ROLLER BEARING
Timken 18685 with 18620 cone, complete assy $54.37 incl GST ex stock.

REAR HEADSTOCK TAPER ROLLER BEARING
Timken 14138A with 14276 cone, complete assy $37.72 incl GST ex stock.

The above prices were current 12 months ago, and have probably increased since.

Class 3 bearings are not available ex stock, and if made to order, would cost in excess of $1000 with a delivery time of 16 to 18 weeks.


Regards,

Ken

[damian]

I meant to mention shop around on bearing prices. Bearing shops give ridiculous discounts to volume customers and I've always found them ready to dig deep if I mention my employer. They put it through as a "employers name" cash sale. No questions asked.

[footz]

Ahh nice one
Well last week I made inquiries about redoing my bearing on the chuck side. I rang 3 bearing places and class 3 bearing cup & race best price I got was about 460.00. It had to be flown in expect 2 weeks. CBC is over the road from the crash shop and there price is about 550.00 also overseas order. Ordinary bearing price is about 80.00 and available off the shelf. Out of curiosity I rang hercus (durden) to see what they said. After a bit of discussions they said thy can get me the bearing set for about 330.00. I was a bit surprised and asked if they had old stock. They said they had a old price list but had to get bearings in. They said they would get back to me. I then rang next day and spoke to steve durden about the bearings as he was the one who answered the phone. I again asked about these bearings asking if they where class 3 bearings. He said he would find out the pricing and class and was surprised he was cheaper then cbc by a big amount. Steve rang back after he spoke to a fitter who has been there about 25 years. He questioned me if I realy had *3 bearings which I believe I have as it has the *3 next to the bearing number. He then commented and said we are charging a lot then for ordinary bearings!. He also said that the fitter said they only used *3 bearing in the presicion models as all others had ordinary bearings!. Well I have a ordinary 9"a type and the front of the gearbox says precission lathe so is that the reason? I guess later model lathes might of had ordinary bearings then as mine is 44years old so would have been before the time of the fitter.
I am going to fit a ordinary bearing to the hercus anway and see what it does, its cheap enough and I still have the old one which has just a small mark in it anyway.It worked good before except for a slight wheel bearing sound anyway.
I told steve Id put this up on the forums and he said he would say he never said it LOL.
I was very surprised by the help I got from hercus (durden) though as they havent sold these machines for a very long time .
On bearings I dont know much about them but I read a lot lately and all the bearing places I rang they have no idea exept its a precission bearing hehehe. I also wonder what sort of bearings are in the normal hafo lathes you get? I doubt they are a precission bearings. My X3 mill wasnt even greased when I opened it up so that probably has ordinary bearings as well. I have read other forums where they replaced the bearing in the x3 mill and the pics of the old is a bit heartbreaking sigh. Ill post more info of what bearing is like once I put it back together, All I gathered from reading is that to just use a good brand name and not a cheap one for the bearing so I will just stay with tinken. Silly me I decided to repaint it what a massive job. I rather do a front end on a car. They have put some sort of primer on there to fill in the rough castings, and the paint was very thick hence it cracked up. on the bearings I am not too sure if the above prices included tax.

[.RC.]

Well I have a ordinary 9"a type and the front of the gearbox says precission lathe so is that the reason? I guess later model lathes might of had ordinary bearings then as mine is 44years old so would have been before the time of the fitter.


BVack when they were still selling Hercus lathe and they had them on their website I recall there was an option available to buy one made to twice the accuracy standards of a normal Hercus...I assume they might have used precision bearings in them..

[footz]

Well just got the bearings from Gardiner Bearings timken brand
14138a 29.28
14276 10.30
18620 20.87
18685 43.00
these are all excluding tax
total bill was $113.80 including tax.

[damian]

Concentricity is the main thing. I'd be surprised if you notice it. There is less out of round in a normal timken than a bush.

Also as an aside if your buying ball bearings (or rollers for that matter) SKF and timken are good. Some of the other "name" bearings aren't.