Do you leave the bearing assembly attached to the table? The reason I am asking is that I have an Aries 3 and would love to be able to do this myself. If there is a process I would appreciate the steps.
Purchase a pencil torch (which allows localized heat) and heat up the ball bearing. Thermal expansion of the ball bearing will break the seal from the bearing shaft. You might have to tap the bearing shaft to release the ball. Below is a picture of a pencil torch for reference.
Back on the old forum there was an amazing thread that started with a discussion by BRF to replace the bearings with ceramics along with Sapphire thrust plates. Back when, I published a picture croniligy of my process following BRFs lead. Hey BRF if you see this, A big hello from Texas.To easily remove the old steel balls, I used a dremel cut off wheel to cut a slot in the top of the old ball. Then used a screwdriver to remove the bearing. Worked beautifully with no force. That is one of the threads I hope Mat can recover. It was full of amazing information.
Back when folks were replacing the steel ball bearings with ceramics we used a drop of thickened superglue. That was years ago now. Still going strong.
Question
Do you leave the bearing assembly attached to the table? The reason I am asking is that I have an Aries 3 and would love to be able to do this myself. If there is a process I would appreciate the steps.
M~
Purchase a pencil torch (which allows localized heat) and heat up the ball bearing. Thermal expansion of the ball bearing will break the seal from the bearing shaft. You might have to tap the bearing shaft to release the ball. Below is a picture of a pencil torch for reference.