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Jet 1840 heating up

Joined
Jan 4, 2020
Messages
32
Likes
20
Location
Niceville, Florida
I have a Jet 1840 that is 46 months old and have been having issues with heat at the inboard side of the headstock. Speed and load are immaterial as it heats up regardless of speed or load. It just takes longer at low speed. Jet sent replacement bearings, I installed them, still have heat. The exploded view shows a different I’d for the spacer between bearings on inboard side. Has anyone else seen this issue?
 
Not a belt issue. Pretty sure it’s a faulty design or just wrong part on this machine. I only posted this info to see if anyone else has had this problem with this machine
 
I had a Jet 1640 with a similar problem with heat at the spindle and bearings. The 1640 and 1840 are pretty much designed the same. The hand wheel is what holds the spindle and bearings in the headstock. If you over tighten the hand wheel it can cause the bearing s to overheat. Try loosening the handwheel a quarter turn or so and see if that helps. It solved my heat problem.
 
Not a belt issue. Pretty sure it’s a faulty design or just wrong part on this machine. I only posted this info to see if anyone else has had this problem with this machine
Calling it a faulty design seems a stretch since that design is pretty mature. You got 4 years out if it. If the design was bad, you would get 4 months from it. How hot? You can get a laser thermometer at Harbor Freight for $25. I did two Google searches for your problem and found no posts anywhere. We know woodturners are not bashful. There is a wave washer installed in front of the rear bearing to set preload on the front bearings. My guess is that you have the item 18 hand wheel too tight and are preloading the bearings too much. Contact Jet and ask for tightening specs for the assembly. My guess is you snug it up just enough to remove any end play in the shaft.
 
Thanks for the tip. The heat issue has been identified since the machine was new. Jet discounted it until recently when I provided pictures of the scorched area the inboard bearings reside. We have identified an incorrect steel spacer between the inboard bearings(the id of the spacer should be larger than the spindle and it is not) and it is causing friction. The hand wheel pressure will be addressed when we rebuild the unit.
 
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