Lubrication of Watchmaker's Lathe Spindles

mckay3d

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I have several older American Style watchmaker's lathes and want to make sure I use the best type of oil for lubrication of the spindles. All of these are plain bearing, hardened spindles. I use ISO 32 hydraulic oil in the Myford Super 7 spindle, but I think it might be too thick for the WW spindles. So... clock oil, 3-in 1, Nye watch oil, or... does anyone else have a suggestion? I have looked in all the books I have on watchmaker's lathes without success.
Maurice in Utah with dry spindles...
 
Well Duh! I just googled it and found this recommendation on the NAWCC forum: Spindle Oil ISO 22 (Mobil Velocite #10) - for speeds up to 3600 RPM,
Spindle Oil ISO 10 (Mobil Velocite #6) - for speeds over 6000 RPM
Sounds good to me.
maurice
 
Hello Mckay3D I use spindle oil in my Boley & Leinen, No doubt you will have noticed these little lathes are greedy blighters where oil is considered, But I would rather stop on occasions, & give the little thing a drink, than find a main spindle seizing
 
Sorry to sound in late, but I use Mobil Velocite #6 in my Rivett watchmaker's lathe, although I have used Mobil-1 synthetic motor oil for several years will NO bad effects. First I used 5-20W, then switched to 0-20W. The reason I switched to Velocite #6 is that it's specifically made for lathe spindles, and for me 3,400 RPM is the top speed - so #6 does quite well.
 
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