My L&W Dividing head

[HMF]

The worm mechanism was stuck together with some orange-brown gunk, so I disassembled the entire head, and had to flush out the worm gear and inside gears with some mineral spirits, using a wire brush to coax it all out. Once cleaned, the handle was able to be moved very easily. I cleaned off the other components with mineral spirits and reassembled everything. I only have one plate, but I bought a second plate that fits on Ebay, and can always buy some import dividing head plates from imports from Enco. The chuck is marked "LW Chuck Co, Toledo, Ohio". The locking lever is obstructed partially by the chuck.

I have a question- what should I use to grease/lube the worm mechanism in place of the old gunk I removed.
Also, what else do I need to do to restore this to useable condition, and what am I missing?

 

[Old Iron]

Can't help with the grease but if you know if it is a 40 t0 1 or what ever I have some charts I can send in PDf that cover them all. Then you can and just look at the charts and set it up.

Let me know if your interested and I'll email them to you.

Paul

 

[Chucketn]

Nice!
I would use white lithium grease for the worm. I have 2 pint cans inherited from my late father. I use it on all gears and other hard to access areas in my mill and lathe.

Chuck in E. TN

 

[November X-ray]

author=Allthumbz link=topic=3296.msg23714#msg23714 date=1314672121
I have a question- what should I use to grease/lube the worm mechanism in place of the old gunk I removed.

Are all the gears steel?, If so I would think any grease suitable for bearings, like wheel bearing grease, use would be sufficient as it is not likely that there will ever be any high pressures exerted on the unit. White lithium grease will work but tends to become runny when the temperature climbs and it ages, at least it does in my garage.

Nice unit by the way!

 

[HMF]

Yes, the gears look to be all steel on this thing, and they looked clean and unabused. They were full of that orange gunk- must have been old grease that gelled. A quick flush with mineral spirits washed that right out.

This was the unit I paid $260 for with the chuck. The only damage I was was to the sector arms (easily replaced with import ones) and the locking lever (someone tried to tighten it with a cutting pliers and took a small chip out of it).

Nelson