I purchased an inexpensive rotating centre from Chronos Ltd., which has replaceable bits. It's only for light duty and odd jobs not accomodated by my other centres (bit of tube work, thin parts needing a fine point etc.,). Anyway, the one that was delivered had rough bearings and Chronos quickly replaced it with no questions (cudos to them!). That left me with a faulty centre representing a challenge as to whether or not I could effect a repair of sorts. Disassembly seemed difficult, there were no visible screw threads holding it together, and a cautious prod under the arbour press suggested that, if it were a pressed together assembly, then a heck of a lot of pressure was needed to get it apart.
Instead, I tried flushing the thing through (after removing the end cap) first with engine oil, then running the thing for an hour, then refilling with moly grease using the same method. I taped a 5ml syringe on the end to force the lubricants through. The result seems to be a success, at least no more crunchy bearing – whether the bearing was damaged in the process I can't say but it seems to be OK.
I'm still curious how the thing was put together originally…


Edited By Chris Heapy on 21/04/2013 12:28:21
Edited By Chris Heapy on 21/04/2013 12:30:05