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I received an e-mail asking why I thought the spider was welded together and asking what the texture/color of the underlying material was. I hope this one photo answers both questions. Between these two spider arms, it almost looks like a touch-up weld or a start/end point with an accumulation...

It might be worth noting that there's a youtube video showing the bearing change on a similar vintage machine and if you look carefully, you can see similar groves, low on the shaft (skip to 2:20 on the 1st video if you are short on time). I do wonder what that spider looks like and whether it...

limey, thanks for your input.

Not sure a dye test will do much good given the surface characteristics and difference between the smooth and rough/pitted cast. My experience with such tests is very mixed even with clean and very uniform casts. I've attempted to annotate two photos to show the pitted areas. I may take a...

If you look carefully, you can see that the cast surface appears very uniform (bead blasted?) except where pitted. The rust stains are located around each pitted area. For example, the photo below shows a pit mark near the middle of one arm. If you look at the photo in post, 498070 you can see...

Another of the spider.

3beltwesty, here's another photo of that area. It doesn't look like a crack in person. In person, it looks like an imperfect weld bead going all around the top/bottom edge of the spider.

"Is the spider steel or aluminum?" It's pretty heavy and definitely cast. It's also magnetic which, with the rust indicates, at least some ferrous material. As for whether it is I don't even want to guess what a shaft/spider would cost from Miele. "I wonder if the spider is isolated from the...

I was told by the fellow who sold it, that the machine was used more-or-less daily for a family of 5 and I believe he said it was 8 or 9 years old. I doubt it ever saw a citric-acid wash cycle. As for the cleaner, I started with plain white vinegar when the spider was still attached to the drum...

A final photo, showing the stamp on the cast spider. I would very much appreciate input from everyone as to whether the machine is worth rebuilding and whether it would be reliable as a primary machine afterwards. I originally purchased the W1918 (knowing something had failed) for $50 with the...

The back-side of the spider has only a little rust.

Here's the other side of the spider/shaft. Again, you can see the bottom of the shaft (note, there is no discolouration. It is just the reflection of the rust patches) along with the ring of corrosion just below where the inner drum bearing was.

Top view of the large rust spot, shown on the left above:

A few close-ups of the rust spots: This photo also shows the bottom of the shaft where the seal would sit. At the top of the photo, you can see a bit of corrosion where the inner drum bearing was.

I decided at this point, to remove the spider (3 bolts running the length of the drum, inside the paddles). After some more scrubbing:

After the first pass... the rust appears.

A laundry tub, in a laundry tub...

Steel Poor lighting in the garage have yielded a few misconceptions: - those groves are machined into the shaft - there is no brass collet, just the steel shaft With the above cleared up, after a bit of cleaning I can understand where some of the concerns regarding the spider casting are...

"I hate to say it but it looks like the brass sleeve for the seal landing is grooved in a couple of places. I doubt that it is supposed to be like that." I noticed that in the photo as well, but didn't see it when I was in the garage. It might be the camera flash catching the light a little but...

Here's a final photo showing the shaft where the troubled, inner bearing was: