Emco v13, the Austrian one

savet06

Mike Suhie
Is now in my shop and some questions have arisen. It was lightly used, but had been dumped on its back or hit from behind at some point...red flag, but the price was right, and there is a lot that is right with it.
At the evaluation it ran smooth, went through all the gears and threads, checked the spindle which had zero run out...but didn't put a chuck on it and check the bearing tolerance.
Got it home and cleaning it up i noticed that there is about .004 radial and as much or more axial movement. I have a spanner on order to tighten the collar at the back end of the spindle, but a manual is running $200 on eBay to figure out the tolerances. May be worth it in the end, but dang that's a lot for a manual.
I have some posts on the hobby machinist to see if anyone has any ideas, but am looking for thoughts on tolerances for FAG bearings. I haven't experienced tapered bearings before and i know there needs to be room for expansion, but I know .004 is too much. The machine is otherwise in good shape. No wear on the ways, zero lash in the carriage, crossfeed, or tail stock, and about .010 in the compound.
The previous owner had to fashion a new gasket for the fore and aft end of the spindle and thus had it apart...and did not have the specs for bearing tolerance when he put it back together.
Thanks in advance,
Mike
 
A very kind member of the hobby machinist forum uploaded a pdf of the manual for me which states that the bearings are tested by mounting a 3 or 4 jaw chuck, gripping one of the jaws and spinning it strongly - one rotation is perfect, less is too tight or bad bearings and more means too loose. Once tightened run for 15 minutes and check warmth of bearings by hand - too warm means too tight.
Right now my spindle spins freely multiple times when I spin the chuck so it definitely needs to be tighter. When the spanner wrench comes in I will see what I can do.
Mike
 
There are EMCO user groups on Yahoo. You may find some valuable information there. You have to ask to join. I've had several EMCO machines and like them. Currently have a tiny little EMCO PC lathe with the mill head (figure I could use it after I retire and am traveling) and a Super 11 lathe with the mill head. Would love to have a V13 but haven't run across one close enough yet.

There is a Super 11 group
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Super11UsersGroup/info

and a EMCO larger lathe group that may have info on the V13
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/emcov10lathe/conversations/messages
 
Thanks for the information. I will check them out for sure.
It is a great little machine- super compact, solid, narrow headstock, heavy enough, and great bearings.
 
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