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Tips/Techniques Lathe Bearing oil

Tips/Techniques
MooseMeat

MooseMeat

Super User
As my previous posts will reveal I am new to the metal lathe. (pictures are there)
I am looking for the correct spindle bearing lubricant, the lubricant is fed through a port above the bearings (tapered bearings) on either side with a sight glasses on the front. The manual suggested a "shell oil" product that is no longer available, so I am looking for suggestions.

Thanks in advance, MM
 
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I use SAE 30 engine oil for all lubrication ! Be sure that it doesn't contain any additives that will damage brass or bronze bearing surfaces. I've used it for at least 25 years but it getting very difficult to get nowadays.
 
MooseMeat said:
As my previous posts will reveal I am new to the metal lathe. (pictures are there)
I am looking for the correct spindle bearing lubricant, the lubricant is fed through a port above the bearings (ball bearings) on either side with a sight glasses on the front. The manual suggested a "shell oil" product that is no longer available, so I am looking for suggestions.

Thanks in advance, MM
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Pretty good chance that someone makes an equivalent product under a different name. You can do a google search to look for it. The bad news is since we live in Canada you will probably have to buy it 5 gallons at a time instead of 1 gallon which would be plenty. What is the shell product name? I had to use a substitute with my Harrison M300.
 
methinks the proper shell substitute would likely be Shell Morlina 68 which is a high grade bearing and circulating oil.

Most guys around use Tellus 68 which is just a standard shell hydraulic fluid. In a lot of machinery this is used industrially in gear boxes, and hydraulic pumps almost always have gears…. (I use this in my lathe and mill gearboxes….)

SAE 30 is what used to be specd for everything. The only place I’ve found it is actually Wal Mart…. They sell it as “lawnmower oil” and it’s SAE 30.

Good luck.
 
what type of bearing, what lathe? imo the oil the manufacture recommends is a matter of whoever the gave the best price and terms in return for being listed. Same viscosity and additive mix, it does not matter the name. Hydraulic oil is an excellent choice, low cost and easy to find ( if available in the right viscosity). It is a clean, minimal additive mineral oil ideal for a gear box/rolling element bearings.
 
Thanks for all the input, I have sourced some 30w non detergent in a gallon jug here in BC, if it's in stock it should be here tomorrow. I have looked at many posts all over the net and this seems to be the go to oil.

The machine only holds oil in the bearings and travels to a sight glass high/low lines with a vent in the glass, it really does not use much. I have also read that the bearings should be cleaned out with mineral spirits before the fresh oil is returned.

I did find one article here after a lot of looking, and found a web link back to here. As for the gears I have been using "red and tacky" from Lucas, if anyone has a better option pease jump right in.

thank again everyone.....MM
 
jorogi said:
Lordco ?
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yup, 😉
I actually want into a hydraulic hose shop on the way home and they have it as well, all the speciality oils, and said they could order it in, not sure of the size but the staff indicated they might be able to get it in smaller than 5gal pails.
 
MooseMeat said:
yup, 😉
I actually want into a hydraulic hose shop on the way home and they have it as well, all the speciality oils, and said they could order it in, not sure of the size but the staff indicated they might be able to get it in smaller than 5gal pails.
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Canadian tire has gallon jugs of 32 iso hydraulic oil. My go to for a gear head lathe or mill gear box.

Did you say the lathe was or what oil the manual recommended? or what the bearings are? You said tapered by there are taper plane bearings and tapered roller bearings. As I noted, imo, the brand/line does not matter ..... but the viscosity does. More so if plane and I'll speculate that because it is total loss, it is a conical plane bearing. You are better to err on the side of heavy, which the 32 likely is. If too light and low speed you can get metal to metal contact, That gives rapid wear - in a precision plane bearing that is never supposed to happen which is whey they can last about forever. i'd guess it will work and better to err on the heavy side. ...but watch the temp- if the bearing caps are getting hot switch to something lower.

If a plane bearing needs a lighter oil (e.g. watchmakers/instrument size) use a lighter motor oil, e.g. 5W something. Although often the recommendation for these an iso 10 which is less than 5W. I wouldn't recommend motor oil for a headstock gear box, but in a total loss system it is fine .... and this is the easierst way to acquire a thin oil. If they are bronze bearings, that is a new issue as some motor and gear oils (with sulfer) can damage them .... then you are best stick with hydraulic oil or seek out a spindle oil if you need something lighter.





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Mcgyver said:
Canadian tire has gallon jugs of 32 iso hydraulic oil. My go to for a gear head lathe or mill gear box.

Did you say the lathe was or what oil the manual recommended? or what the bearings are? You said tapered by there are taper plane bearings and tapered roller bearings. As I noted, imo, the brand/line does not matter ..... but the viscosity does. More so if plane and I'll speculate that because it is total loss, it is a conical plane bearing. You are better to err on the side of heavy, which the 32 likely is. If too light and low speed you can get metal to metal contact, That gives rapid wear - in a precision plane bearing that is never supposed to happen which is whey they can last about forever. i'd guess it will work and better to err on the heavy side. ...but watch the temp- if the bearing caps are getting hot switch to something lower.

If a plane bearing needs a lighter oil (e.g. watchmakers/instrument size) use a lighter motor oil, e.g. 5W something. Although often the recommendation for these an iso 10 which is less than 5W. I wouldn't recommend motor oil for a headstock gear box, but in a total loss system it is fine .... and this is the easierst way to acquire a thin oil. If they are bronze bearings, that is a new issue as some motor and gear oils (with sulfer) can damage them .... then you are best stick with hydraulic oil or seek out a spindle oil if you need something lighter.





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The bearings in the head are roller bearings or tapered roller bearings, I haven't found the original manual but the older Grizzly one is the same lathe, parts diagrams are terrible, and the pictures just show a terrible bearing drawing, it's not a gear head lathe but rather has oilers for the bearings on either side with a reservoir window up front.

The old recommended Shell oil is no longer available and a bit of a search from different machining forums claimed the alternate is a 30w non detergent hydraulic oil. I had forgotten a friend of a friend has a very similar macing and thats what he uses.
 
MooseMeat said:
The bearings in the head are roller bearings or tapered roller bearings, I haven't found the original manual but the older Grizzly one is the same lathe, parts diagrams are terrible, and the pictures just show a terrible bearing drawing, it's not a gear head lathe but rather has oilers for the bearings on either side with a reservoir window up front.

The old recommended Shell oil is no longer available and a bit of a search from different machining forums claimed the alternate is a 30w non detergent hydraulic oil. I had forgotten a friend of a friend has a very similar macing and thats what he uses.
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What is the old recommended shell oil?
 
If your oil is too thick, your spindle will start running hot. I have a lathe that uses Iso 10 oil, another spindle that uses Iso 32. It depends on the tolerance and spec bearings used, together with the method of lubrication. My Iso 10 machine has a high pressure pump circulating the oil. He Iso 30 one uses a bath system and it has oil nipples for a hand pump as well that you need to lubricate every so often. My suggestion would be to rather opt for Iso32 or Iso68 if it is not a high tolerance, tight clearance machine. I suspect the ISO32 is what you will use.
 
Those dont really seem interchangeable on a kinematic viscosity basis, but note the footnote about Shell's older numbering classification.
Im using Canadian Tire ISO 46 in my (gearbox) 14x40 lathe at room temp, but of course your machine may well require something different

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MooseMeat said:
ISO 68 SAE 20W Bearing and Gear Lubricant and the other manual states and Shell Tellus oil 27.

MM..
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Ok my machine called for different ones but from the same series. On mine I was able to cross reference it over to something from the Mobil DTE series. I did have to buy 5 gallons of it. My machine has a label that gave the right oil from from several manufacturers. All obsolete of course but it gave me many types to cross reference. It also made me suspect that getting an exact match was not critical.
 
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