How I almost set fire to my garage...

[cncJim]

If you leave the bearings and the grease/oil is no longer present they're not going to last very long, then you'll need new bearings - i.e 7005 matched pair for about £50-£100. Compare that to a few £'s on the right lubricant. However you might find that there's nothing wrong...

Just looked at the photos again, and it looks like the spindle itself has blackened? Is that just soot? I hope it's not got hot enough to anneal the collet taper, as that would clearly be a big problem.

I didn't realise you meant I could potentially grease/oil them up again, I thought I would be opening it up to see if the bearing needed replacing or not. I also didn't realise new bearings would cost so much!

On reflection I think your right and it's worth a look.

You mention it getting hot enough to anneal the collet taper, forgive my ignorance but why would this be an issue?

Thanks.

[Jonathan]

You mention it getting hot enough to anneal the collet taper, forgive my ignorance but why would this be an issue?

The spindle shaft is machined from a grade of steel which can subsequently be hardened and ground. This is necessary to ensure that the wear caused by changing the tool/collet doesn't wear the taper out (much), which would lead to high run-out. If yours has been heated above a certain temperature (which depends on the grade of steel), it will be softened and will wear out much more quickly. The temperature range is quite wide though, and we've not really got much idea how hot it got, although the colour can be an indication of that. Either way it's hard to tell...