Oiling points on your Apron

[Stustoys]

Ever lain awake at night worried you didnt have enough oil nipples on your apron? I think I might have just fixed that problem

I had the apron off while checking the alignment of the feed shafts and figured I'd do something about the places that didn't get as much oil as maybe they should and make a few things easier to oil with my pom pom oiler. Scraped the dovetail on the halfnut while I was there. At the very least I no longer have to remove the oil filler plug to oil the input shaft of the QCGB.

Stuart

[Ueee]

Very neat Stuart
What sort of tube is that (looks like brass?), and how does it go with movement of the half nut? The Mars gets oil everywhere via 2 galleries, one in each side (front/back) of the apron. The only thing that suffers is the half nut. I have wondered if fitting some sort of wiper to it may be beneficial for making sure the leadscrew is clean.

There looks to be lots of nipples there, now where's my grease gun.....

Cheers,
Ew

[Dave J]

Came up good Stuart, good to see yours is back together, LOL

Dave

[Stustoys]

Hi Ewan,

Yeap 1/8" brass tube. Which is handy as with a little encouragment it can be forced into 3mm holes.
The tube is a loose fit an a hole that was already in the halfnut, so the tube stays still and the nut moves.
I'd think a felt wiper would be a little tricky for an 8tpi leadscrew, but might be doable for a larger pitch.

Hi Dave,
Whats the hold up with yours?

Stuart

[Dave J]

The hold up with mine, life and motivation.
I am ready to put it all back together, but I bet the postie arrives tomorrow with some 1/8 tube which might slow things down again, LOL
I know if I don't do it now it wont get done at all, and it might be another 10 years before I am in there again.

How is yours working out now it's all back together?

Dave

[Stustoys]

Hi Dave,

Its improved things a little I'd say but that might be more to do with knocking the odd burr off here and there than the extra oil?? Dovetail certainly feels better but will that have any effect at all? doubt it.

I'll take a picture of the special "pliers" you need tomorrow.

Stuart

[simonl]

Looks good Stuart,

Where do you get that 1/8 copper from? Aircon supplies?

There are so many places that my lathe needs lube and probably does not get it. My ball oilers on my compound are non existent (in that they are damaged) . I've been umming and arring over just replacing them or putting in cup oilers. I think cup oilers may be too bulky in such a location....

Hey Stuart, the oiler you use to deliver the oil, does that have a special connector on the end? I just use a regular rega? oil can and more seems to go on the floor than in the hole!

Edit: they actually look like regular grease nipples. Are they?

Simon

[Dave J]

I have been talking with Stuart via email through this mod and they are grease nipples.

I think it was Ewan who bought a heap of those oilers your chasing for your compound. You can order them fro the UK for cheap.

Dave

[simonl]

So, how do you get oil into a grease nipple? Is it a special oil can or do you attach a grease gun hose to your oil can?

I like the idea, however it works. I like grease nipples too. I guess I just like the name! (.)(.)

[Dave J]

Hi Simon,
I hear your a storage yard at the moment for Stuart, LOL He got a great score though.
I think Stuart has one of those fancy oilers. I think the pressure would push the ball in.

Something I have never tried but thought a lot about over the years is a little Bimba air cylinder as an oiler as I have a few here. A hole could be drilled up the shaft and then fill the back side with oil and put a threaded cap on the port. When you place the end of the shaft against the oil nipple you then push the cylinder and it would push the oil into it, simple or at least it sounds simple, LOL

They are available in all sizes cheap, just not sure how hard the shaft would be to drill, and you would have to keep the cylinder a size that your drill bit reached in length, though you could always drill from both ends and wouldn't matter if you where off a little.

Never seen that combo before, LOL, told my son and he was in disbelief that I didn't know and said this is the way he draws it, LOL (.Y.)

Dave

[Stustoys]

Hi Simon,

I'll bring you some tube when I come get the rest of my bar.

I didnt do anything about the ball oilers on the compound/crossslides. I contented myself by thinking "they use different oil, I'll deal with them later", as you say cup oilers are going to be a little bulky, so may have to put up with ball oilers, ever though I dont like them much.

As Dave said they are just grease nipples as I couldnt find oil ones(K nipples?). I use a pom pom oiler(once I got a new seal). The nipples seem to work ok, I'll make a new tip out of nolathane if needed. Not sure a rega would have enough pressure?? BT has a link to pom poms for $40 if I recall correctly.

A picture of the special clamp . It's easier if you force the ends of the tube into a 3mm hole while the tube is still straight.

Stuart

p.s....... reply to out of date pages again!
Covered Simons question by luck. So many titles for this thread went through my mind before I posted

I'd have to have a think about your idea Dave. The pom pom oilers. on the pump stroke its only a smaller inner part that moves, that might be increasing the pressure some how??

[Ueee]

The smaller the area your pushing with the more PSI produced, so that is probably why you get such high pressure from the pom pom oilers.

Simon, pm me with what ball oilers you need, i should be able to send you some.

Cheers,
Ew

[simonl]

Thanks Stuart, thanks Ueee.

I'll have a look on Thursday and see what size they are.

Stuart, I have some cup oilers I was going to put on my TS but even then, I can't help but feel they would get in the way, I'm always putting my hand on top of the TS when I move it and they would annoy me!

My biggest fear with lack of oil is my norton style GB. The oil hole for that fills a hidden lip that has two drain holes above the gears. But you need to fill the entire area before the level gets to the holes. You can pump in 6 good pumps and it still wont be enough oil to reach the holes but you can't see to know. It's just pot luck!

Hi Dave, yea I think Stuart has a keen eye for good stuff! That 32mm bar was a bargain. There's every chance that it's probably good quality stuff too. The guy where we picked it up from had heaps of stuff. I was like a kid in a lolly shop, motors, machines steel etc etc. I'll be keeping an eye out for stuff being sold from him.

Did you know he is the only person in Australia making drum sticks?! And I don't mean ice-cream! Showed me a room with X number of thousand matched pairs of the things. It's quite technical in how they are made, harmonics, resonance etc. etc.

Did I mention he had a bandsaw too. His doesn't work either...... Must be something in the water. Should have offered him $200 for it!

Simon

[Dave J]

Drum sticks and he runs a scrap yard?

I think that oiler idea would work as long as the shaft was drill able. Stuart said only the shaft part moves and pumps, but I think there would be enough pressure from a 1/2 - 3/4 bore cylinder as my Chinese oil can does the job fine other than leaking at the tube nozzle connection.

How was the cold saw blade when you finished? A new blade would cost what he paid for the steel, LOL

I thought I was bad up here for collecting stuff, but I think Stuart is way ahead of me, but that stuff was a bargain.

With the tail stock I wouldn't bother and just leave whats there. I oil mine a little through the oiler and lube the tail stock quill itself and I think thats plenty for it.
The thrust bearing on the rear doesn't need much either.

Dave

[Stustoys]

Hi Simon,
On a side note. For an "open" gearbox, I think you'd be better off using way oil than hydrualic oil.

36mm bar, I turned a piece, certainly not the worst MS I have ever seen, doesnt come up to bad at all.

Hi Dave,
Not exactly, only the shaft part moves on the pump stroke, when you let go and the spring pushed the small part back out it also pushes the large part into the bore by the amount of oil used(hope that makes sense )
The large bore is 1 1/8", at a guess the small bore is (at a guess, I've only measured the large one) 10mm.
A couple of problems for using one bore diameter is 1. it wont hold much oil, 2.I'm not sure how much control over how much oil you put in you will have. Still, worth a try and only one way to find out.

It was a brobo saw(the slow ones, auto lift just like Simons lol). It would likely cut all week before it needed sharpening.


Stuart

p.s. Its not a scrap yard, he just has his finger in a lot of pies.