Lubricants for vintage lathe

Izzy, thanks much for your kind words. Maybe your green oil is the green stuff mentioned on the millersoils web site?? I'll bet it is, or very well could be. Truthfully, I had a nagging doubt that hypoid oil would cause such a massive color change. I guess, take a close look at your gears after you drain and flush the gear box. If they are not pockmarked - show no signs of tiny corrison holes, yellow metal 'wormholes' eating, away the castings, then a good chance it's the original color of the oil! You could do an oil analysis at some heavy equipment lab to be sure.

Anyway, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these old straight mineral lube oils.

Good luck with your rebuild!

Glenn
 
Ok so I've got everything covered now except the head stock what should I use in that? Keep in mind I live in Ontario so the lathe will see temps anywhere between -10°C and +30°C I've read that hydraulic oil can be used but I'm not sure what grade to go with?
 
Izzy said:
Ok so I've got everything covered now except the head stock what should I use in that? Keep in mind I live in Ontario so the lathe will see temps anywhere between -10°C and +30°C I've read that hydraulic oil can be used but I'm not sure what grade to go with?
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Go with ISO 32 or 46 hydraulic oil. That's basically the same oil as Mobil Velocite brand oil.
 
Go for it! I wouldn't suggest anything heavier for cold weather use.
 
So I had a rather hard time trying to find a gl-1 oil around here so I got to thinking about what Glen was saying about the issue being the corrosiveness to yellow metals. Being a long time fan/user of royal purple products I searched to see if royal purple had a yellow metal safe oil. Sure enough they have a product called "max gear" and it states specially on thier website "It is non-corrosive to soft yellow metals (brass, bronze, copper, etc.) and synchronizer safe." Which is good enough for me! Just thought I'd share for anyone else looking for a yellow metal safe gear oil!
http://www.royalpurpleconsumer.com/products/max-gear/
 
Just an FYI, most oils will fluoresce green when you put strong or high blue/UV light like LED. It does not denote Cu contamination
 
Another approach is 90 weight ( straight) mineral
Oil gear lube. Gl1 Is basically straight mineral oil, as I understand it.
 
4gsr said:
Go with ISO 32 or 46 hydraulic oil. That's basically the same oil as Mobil Velocite brand oil.
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ISO 32 hydraulic oil is what the manufacturer specifies for my lathe. It's basically 10 weight oil with no harmful additives. Cheap, too. I bought it at the local farm supply.

GG
 
I ended up getting a 5L jug of Tellus s2 m32 for the spindle, the oil is almost as clear as water! I've heard of alot of guys using motorcycle chain lube for the open change gears. Whats everyone else using?
 
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