Clausing 6307 lathe

@boneyard51 Hydraulic oil is engineered to protect hydraulic pumps and provide lubrication. Leblond lathes use the same hydraulic oil to lube the gears as to shift them. BTW weight of the oil has never equated to lubricity.

I have had to research this extensively, along with getting the best advice from lube specialists. The reason for heavy oil in older vehicles' gear boxes is to provide stiction which is now done by modern additives. In the 60s that was the best they had.

Hydraulic oil deteriorates less quickly in shear as in gear pumps than motor oils, which as Jim F suggests are engineered with surfactants to keep the particulates suspended so that they can be carried to the filter. Use whatever you like, as any oil is better than nothing. The surfactants reduce the useful life of the oil.

One last interesting point: surfactants make the oil more hydrophylic, that is, to absorb water. Not the best for a lathe gear box with long intervals for oil changes. If you use motor oil, remember to change it regularly.

After all that checking, I use ISO 68 hydraulic oil in all my machine tools gearboxes, aprons and gear heads.
 
Dabbler said:
@boneyard51 Hydraulic oil is engineered to protect hydraulic pumps and provide lubrication. Leblond lathes use the same hydraulic oil to lube the gears as to shift them. BTW weight of the oil has never equated to lubricity.

I have had to research this extensively, along with getting the best advice from lube specialists. The reason for heavy oil in older vehicles' gear boxes is to provide stiction which is now done by modern additives. In the 60s that was the best they had.

Hydraulic oil deteriorates less quickly in shear as in gear pumps than motor oils, which as Jim F suggests are engineered with surfactants to keep the particulates suspended so that they can be carried to the filter. Use whatever you like, as any oil is better than nothing. The surfactants reduce the useful life of the oil.

One last interesting point: surfactants make the oil more hydrophylic, that is, to absorb water. Not the best for a lathe gear box with long intervals for oil changes. If you use motor oil, remember to change it regularly.

After all that checking, I use ISO 68 hydraulic oil in all my machine tools gearboxes, aprons and gear heads.
Click to expand...
I do agree that oils have changed from the old days, some of these changes in my mind, are not improvements! But a couple of things, lathes are nothing special, they are just a gear box, some with clutches some not, just like the automotive transmissions. I do understand stand that engine oil is designed to to be changed, but that is mainly due to the fact it is contaminated by the combustion process, not present in the lathe gear box. Also the demands on the oil in an engine can be extreme, one thing is the oil is under pressure and is driven through either a gear or vane pump millions of times between oil changes, and it survives this! If you get the motor oil designEd for flat tappet cams, it has the extreme pressure additive. You cannot clump all engine oils together anymore due to the large variety and major changes in them, especially recently. What type of oil to use where has been long argued and conclusions usually differ between folks and even large companies for the same application.
But like you said, any is better than none! Any seeing what comes out of some old lathes, I figure they would be happy with any new clean oil! Lol






Bones
 
One last comment: Extreme pressure additives, if they contain sulphur, will erode your brass/bronze parts commonly found in the headstock of a lathe. All the best!
 
I just finished up a lathe project with brand new ISO 68 hydraulic oil in my headstock. I would honestly say that it is 50% quieter and the spindle bearing that always gets warm at higher speeds did not get warmer than anything else.
My owners manual says to put 80w hypoid gear oil in the other gear boxes, so I wont make any changes there.
I don't know what it had for oil in it, but it was dark and smelly.
 
Or more correctly, High Detergent engine oil should be avoided. Straight SAE graded oil is OK if the proper weight. If Harley 60 wt is HD, for engines, it will contain detergents or additives that among other things, absorb moisture from the atmosphere. In an IC engine, this is good as it keeps the engine from rusting when it cools off and is boiled out the tailpipe the next time that you run the engine. But in a lathe, the gear box won't ever get hot enough to get rid of the trapped water.
 
For the 5900 series headstock Mobil DTE25 is recommended, and DTE26 for the apron.
There can be gotten on ebay in smaller quantities.
 
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