Long-Shafts

The Geometry and Function of Textile Spindle Shafts Textile spindle shafts are long, thin shafts that rotate at high speeds. Many have a through-hole for lubrication or weight reduction. A typical spindle shaft might be 500-1000mm long with a 10-20mm through-hole. I have worked with shafts up to 1,500mm in length that required an 8mm through-hole. Those are the most difficult jobs because the length-to-diameter ratio exceeds 180 to 1. ...

Drilling a long shaft — say 1.5 meters of solid steel with a 10mm hole through the center — looks simple on paper. But it’s one of those jobs where the setup matters more than the cutting parameters. If you’re working on cylinder bores instead of solid shafts, I covered BTA drilling for hydraulic cylinders here. This one is about shafts. The shaft wants to whip. The drill wants to wander. Coolant has a long way to travel. Here’s how I deal with each. ...