How to make a lathe oil cup - wick type lathe oilers
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- A quick look at some home made lathe wick oilers. Easy to make. The steel tube has a small shoulder where it screws down into the brass cup, and the thread is sealed with some Loctite at that point.
I made the cups much the same size as the originals. Don't make them too big or they will drip oil everywhere after you stop using the lathe. These are big enough for a days use.
I also didn't see the point of threading the caps. It would just be a nuisance having to unscrew and re do them every time you add oil (daily).
Hi Shawn. The originals were drip type, and I wanted a low profile oiler, and to stick to original setup, so I went wick type for those reasons. Easy to make as well. Cheers Rob
NOTE - I did away with the cord type oiler core as described in the video, and replaced it with an inverted "J" single wire type as was/is used by all plain bearing Schaublin lathes.
This allows the oil flow to be regulated - by varying the diameter of the wire used for the feed.
The oil uses surface tension to siphon itself externally up, over, and down the wire exterior.
Works very accurately and well.
Cheers Rob
what should I use for wicking .... does wool flow oil faster than cotton? I'd rather not use pipecleaners
Flow depends on diameter, and number of fibres (density) in the wick. Wool or cotton shouldn't make much difference to the flow. You could even use poly cord, as it all works on capillary action.
Hi Rob. What oil are you using for your headstock bearings and ways?
Hi Adam, car SAE 20 - 40 engine oil. I was using ATF on the Schaublin spindle, but it was too thin (15 SAE). I use regular car engine oil on all my lathes and have never had an issue. Cheers Rob
Still happy with these oilers?
The reason I ask. I've fixed up this old lathe and it takes a lot of oil. These could limit the mess and save some oil. The could even end up saving the bearings :)
Yes, still using them. I actually have some genuine Schaublin ones that I could use (same dimensions), but the home made ones work well.
I reduced the diameter of the wire wicks and it oils quite nicely with ATF/light oil. That's how you regulate the feed rate.
You need to top these up often, but at least you can limit the amount of oil for a session, and not waste oil with it dripping out for hours on end.
Cheers Rob
Thanks for the reply. I'll put this on my todo list :)
first off, when did plain bearings and/or oil cups fall out of favor on lathes? finally, do you know if there's a way of telling a lathe's general age (years/decades) without a serial number?
When tapered roller bearings (and ball races) were adopted about the 1960's at a rough guess.
Without a serial number the age of a lathe comes down to knowledge of country of origin and characteristics of the lathe - ie. you have to be familiar with the product being examined. At best you may get it within a decade of manufacture.
I did the best I could with Lathes.co.uk, but my watchmaker's lathe is stamped "Boley & Leinen made in Germany" with no other markings. Would you know of a better source?
Not really. Probably your best bet would be to join a watchmakers forum where they will undoubtedly be talking about lathes and there may be members with equivalent units.
This thread has some links that may help: www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-and-history/age-boley-lathe-114370/
Good luck.
Cheers Rob
Very nice of you to be so responsive! I shall give this forum a try. Thank you! ~Rich
The video title says "How to make a lathe oil cup". I didn't see you make anything. Your work is very nice. But you should have titled the video " Look at the cool lathe oil cups I made." I wish you could show how you made them.
Yes I have to agree on this one. Unfortunately I had already made them when I thought about a video, so the best I could do was describe the construction. I think the video makes it clear how simply they go together, and it would be easy to pick up on the idea. Cheers Rob.