Plan Ahead for Spindle, Slide Repair

With hunting season and the holidays around the corner, many manufacturing companies will be shutting down for extended periods of time — the perfect opportunity to send in your slides and spindles for repair.

It’s always important for businesses to plan ahead to ensure the most efficient and successful operations for its future, and — believe it or not — maintaining and repairing machining components is something that can involve a little strategizing.

With fall in the air, many companies are preparing for shut downs for hunting season or the holidays — which is a great time to send in those spindles and slides for repair and restoration.

“You know when your spindle needs repairing when, first off all, you’re not making good parts,” Gilman CEO Chris Hetzer said. “Other things can be an increase in temperature, and increase in vibration, or if you notice any unusual noise.”

Environmental factors, such as dirt, machining chips and condensation, can contribute to failure of slides and spindles. That coupled with oftentimes ongoing use of the machine really wears on its components.

“Basically, there’s going to be two reasons why you would need a slide repaired:

one is, something breaks  — or the other thing is just the accuracy,” Gilman Engineering Supervisor Dale Blank said. “A slide will wear, the moving members will wear — and when you lose the accuracy, whether it’s tracking, the height or whatever … then you’re not making good parts with it.

To take advantage of the downtime at your shop, give Gilman Precision a call a couple of weeks before you are scheduled to close to let us know what parts you’ll be sending in, so we can be ready to get the slides and spindles working like new

Gilman Precision has been dedicated to the advancement of high precision solutions that improve efficiency and achieve longevity since 1952. The company develops customized slides and spindles for value-added engineers with exacting needs and standards, providing expert service for virtually any manufacturer’s equipment.

If you’ve got a question on ordering a spindle or slide, contact us at 800-445-6267 or sales@gilmanprecision.com.