Hardinge CX-1000 Vetical Machining Center
Hardinge Bridgeport CX-1000 Vertical Machining Center (VMC). Ballscrew Guys were called in due to excessive machine noise and lost accuracy. A basic VMC X-Axis ball screw and end bearing assembly repair and refurbishment. These are the bread and butter of our ball screw service business. This machine is like many others we have serviced with similar problems. It went for an extended period of time without adequate lubrication. Even though the lube issue was eventually fixed, it started the internal wear to critical ball bearing components.
Here Ballscrew Guys is starting the X-Axis and Y-Axis inspection and refurbishment process. We clean our way in. Covers are being removed. We do not expect the CNC machines we work on to be shiny and spotless. But we do appreciate when our customers take some time to clean the machines before we service them. This helps improve the quality of our work, plus helps us from a safety standpoint.
Here you can see part of the X-Axis ball nut and the ball screw to a Hardinge Bridgeport CX-1000 Vertical Machining Center (VMC). You can see we are flushing out old hardened and friction-burnt lubricant off the components. The ball bearings which came out of it are barely even round anymore. This machine had a definite howl when the X-Axis was moved in rapid traverse. We were able to clean and polish all this up. Fortunately, this ball screw was machined from quality steel and properly heat treated, like the ball nut components. The ball bearings, because they were of a lower Rockwell hardness, were the sacrificial part of the ball screw assembly. Even though the balls were worn down, there was minimal damage to the ball screw shaft raceway and ball nut internals.