Roll Shafts & Heavy Shafts
Drum shafts, roller shafts and heavy turned shafts up to 6,000 mm long, with stepped journals, bearing seats, keyways and threads. Turned and ground to your drawing tolerance.
Shafts on Our Lathes and Grinders
Shafts We Make
Conveyor drum shafts
Heavy drive and pulley shafts with seats for locking assemblies or shrink fits.
Learn more →Roller shafts
Through-shafts and stub shafts for industrial and process rollers.
Stepped journals
Journals with bearing seats, shoulders, grooves and threads.
Heavy forged shafts
Large shafts from forgings or heavy bar, turned on our heavy lathe.
Learn more →Ground shafts
Shafts ground to ±0.005 mm on bearing and seal seats.
Learn more →Chrome-plated shafts
Hard chrome on wear and seal surfaces.
Learn more →Turned Long, Ground Precise
Long shafts are difficult parts: they deflect under the cutting tool, and every bearing seat has to line up with every other. We turn long shafts between centres with steady rests, leave grinding stock on bearing and seal seats, and grind them in one setup for concentricity.
- Lengths up to 6,000 mm on heavy and long-bed lathes
- Keyways, flats, threads and grooves
- Bearing and seal seats ground to ±0.005 mm on precision parts
- Series shafts on CNC turning centres
Roll Shaft Capacity
Send the drawing with material, heat treatment, tolerances and quantity.
| Length | Up to 6,000 mm |
|---|---|
| Weight | Up to 12 tonnes |
| Materials | Carbon, alloy (e.g. 42CrMo4) and stainless steels |
| Grinding | 0.01 mm on rolls, ±0.005 mm on precision seats, Ra 0.2 µm |
| Features | Keyways, threads, grooves, flats, centre holes |
| Surface | Ground, hard chrome, hardened |
| Quantities | Single pieces to series |
Questions About Roll Shafts
How long can your shafts be?
Up to 6,000 mm long and up to 12 tonnes.
What tolerance do you grind bearing seats to?
Up to ±0.005 mm on precision seats, with surface finish down to Ra 0.2 µm.
Can you supply hardened or chrome-plated shafts?
Yes. Hardening and hard chrome plating are available to your specification.
Do you make shafts in series?
Yes. Series shafts run on CNC turning centres with a frozen process.
Roll Shafts and Heavy Shafts Made to Drawing
Every roller and drum turns on a shaft, and most roller failures that are not bearing failures are shaft failures: fatigue cracks at shoulders, worn bearing seats or a loose hub connection. A well-made shaft, with the right material, generous radii and correctly ground seats, is the cheapest insurance a roller can have.
Shafts with or without the roller
We make shafts as part of complete rollers and conveyor drums, and as separate parts for your own assembly or as replacements. Worn shafts can also be repaired by build-up welding and regrinding, see roller repair.
For heavy turned parts beyond shafts, see heavy lathe turning. Send your shaft drawing via the contact page.
Common shaft failures and how to avoid them
Most shaft failures are fatigue cracks that start at a stress concentration: a sharp shoulder radius, a keyway end, or a poorly fitted hub. Generous radii at diameter changes, a good surface finish at highly loaded sections and the right material all extend shaft life. For high-tension conveyor drums, locking assemblies instead of keyways remove one of the most common crack starting points.
Repairing worn shafts
Worn bearing seats and journals can often be repaired instead of replacing the whole shaft. The worn area is built up by welding, then turned and ground back to its original size. This is often the fastest way to return a large drum to service.
Materials
We make shafts in carbon steel for standard duty and in alloy steels such as 42CrMo4 for high loads, quenched and tempered where specified. Stainless shafts are used for food and wet environments.
Shafts for conveyor drums
Conveyor drum shafts carry the bending load of the belt tension between the bearings. Their diameter is set by that load and by the hub connection. We machine shaft seats for keyed hubs, shrink fits or locking assemblies, and grind bearing seats to the tolerance your bearings require.