Poor Man's Oil Cups

[Cleave]

Old WF Barnes and Co #6 lathe, the spindle bearings oil cup holes are tapped 7/16"-14, not NPT like you'd expect. As such, no oil cups off the shelf will fit. And the bearings leak oil like crazy, so I don't want to run them dry by mistake.

So, here's my solution, with a couple bolts and some clear tubing from Lowes. Quick, easy, effective.

 

[The Cobbler]

great fix

 

[lilredex]

Why not just cut off that bolt and tap for a proper fitting?

 

[Cleave]

Why not just cut off that bolt and tap for a proper fitting?

You sure could do it, and it would look more original with the right oil cups. But this was less work for the same end result, with what I have on hand.

The bolts are threaded into the bearing housing. The top of the bolt is turned round, and the clear tubing secured to the bolt head with a hose clamp. The nut holds it tight on the bearing housing. So no cutting off of bolt, just remove if desired.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

You sure could do it, and it would look more original with the right oil cups. But this was less work for the same end result, with what I have on hand.

The bolts are threaded into the bearing housing. The top of the bolt is turned round, and the clear tubing secured to the bolt head with a hose clamp. The nut holds it tight on the bearing housing. So no cutting off of bolt, just remove if desired.

Forgive me but I'm still missing something. . .

Does the bolt have a hole drilled through it to feed the oil from the hose into the bearings?

I guess the oil could "spiral" down the threads, past the lock nut and into the bearing but that doesn't seem like it would work.

The only oil cups I have seen are on vintage fans where you soak the felt with oil and it flows over time.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Great solution. Call it The Double Erection Gearbox Correction.
Or maybe someone else has an idea.

 

[Cleave]

The bolt hex head is turned round to a tight fit into the clear tubing.
There is a 3/16" thru hole in the bolt.

 

[Rick B.]

Good fix. I love fabrications for function. Only thing I'd do is shorten up the tubes and make some nicer caps. Great job.

 

[Cleave]

Picked up this 1/2 drive MFD 1661 ratchet from a pawn shop for three dollars! ...

That's a sweet deal on a great wrench but it looks like you posted in the wrong thread....

 

[paulsomlo]

One concern I have about those "oilers" - how tightly sealed are the tubes above the oil level? Reason I ask, is that some Gits oilers have a small notch cut out under the cap to avoid a vacuum. Is oil flowing to the bearings the way you think it should?

 

[Rick B.]

That's a sweet deal on a great wrench but it looks like you posted in the wrong thread....

I sure did. Was wondering what happened to that post.

 

[Cleave]

One concern I have about those "oilers" - how tightly sealed are the tubes above the oil level? Reason I ask, is that some Gits oilers have a small notch cut out under the cap to avoid a vacuum. Is oil flowing to the bearings the way you think it should?

Yeah I did wonder about that but the oil is definitely coming down through. The caps are just little pieces of 1/2" oak dowel, no taper.

The front spindle bearing really uses a lot of oil. Any chance there's a way to tighten these bearings up?

 

[paulsomlo]

Yeah I did wonder about that but the oil is definitely coming down through. The caps are just little pieces of 1/2" oak dowel, no taper.

The front spindle bearing really uses a lot of oil. Any chance there's a way to tighten these bearings up?

It looks like a split plain bearing up front - if there are shims in the split, you may be able to remove/reduce them. Not sure how they're doing the back, but the front ones take the brunt of the side loading.

 

[Cleave]

Thanks for the tip, I'll pop that front bearing open sometime and see if there's anything to unshim or adjust.

 

[Cleave]

Over the weekend I pulled of the upper bearing housing and top half of the bearing (front spindle bearing) that leaks oil.
Bearing surface was fairly chewed up, but the spindle is good enough. The mating faces of the bearing halves had what looked like one layer of wax paper as a shim, I removed this and reassembled. Seems like it doesn't leak oil quite as fast but its hard to say without running it for a while.

 

[paulsomlo]

Just make sure that the bearing is getting adequate lubrication - it is possible to set them too tight. While a film of oil doesn't take up much room, it still has finite thickness. I've heard numbers on plain bearing lathes of about 0.001" clearance. If you wipe it down good and can see oil dripping out the bottom of the bearing, you're OK.

 

[PugetDude]

The best hillbilly oiler I ever encountered was a cat food can with a 1" wide x ~6" long piece of felt pop-riveted to the side. Can was filled with oil, and was mounted above a slow moving shaft.
Want to lube the shaft?
Pull the loose end of the felt out of the can and let it hang on the moving shaft.
Want to turn if off?
Put the felt back in the can.

Surprisingly, it worked pretty well.