Please Help with British oil Fitting

[valleyboy101]

Hi All,
I have a new to me British made Cromwell lathe. It has some unusual oil fitting that I've never seen the likes of. Below is a picture of a couple of them - like a zerk fitting but with no provision to lock on. Some of them are on the underside of shaft supports, so the oil has to be under enough pressure to be pumped up to the bearing. Another member showed me an oil/grease gun in KBC, but I would still need a suitable female fitting to go on the nipple. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Michael
Sorry for the fuzziness of the pics but my phone has quit uploading photos, so I'm using an older digital camera.

 

[rangerman]

Replace/modify/make all grease fittings fit standard pumps or widely available lubrication applicators (grease guns).

Unless you want to preserve your machine for future museum display there's really no need to stick to parts that are non-standardized or now obsolete.

To think about it many machine parts that perform the same or similar purpose are just arbitrarily designed or standardized not necessarily because there's the only one way to make them work.
They are standardized mainly for economic benefits in mass production of items or parts. They can be specially designed if it favors the manufacturer in a special way and makes copying difficult.
There's nothing wrong with changing the design, if you can, if the parts are already obsolete or are no longer made.

 

[valleyboy101]

Thanks rangerman,I have no qualms about changing the fittings, but I don't want to drill new oil holes. Making/buying the correct fittings to attach an oil can to these fitting is my first choice. However I'm not a museum restorer so I'll do what I need to do.Michael

 

[benmychree]

These look similar to our old Zerk fittings; the gun used just had a fitting at the end that eas an internal (female) radius, and they sealed by the act of pushing the gun against the fitting which also caused it to pump a shot of oil; my 1925 Dodge cane with this style of fitting, but I changed them to the pin type Alemite due to the fact that most of the Zerks were missing and I had lots of NOS Alemite fittings.

 

[valleyboy101]

Thanks Benmychree,
I'm obviously going to change them or make a custom fitting for an oil can. I think that I could do the latter or I could install zerk fittings and adapt the female fitting to one of my oil cans.
Thanks,
Michael

 

[Bill C.]

Thanks rangerman,I have no qualms about changing the fittings, but I don't want to drill new oil holes. Making/buying the correct fittings to attach an oil can to these fitting is my first choice. However I'm not a museum restorer so I'll do what I need to do.Michael

Sometimes we forget zerk fittings can be used for oil as well as grease. It doesn't hurt to bleed them sometimes if there was air trapped in the gun. Good luck

 

[SEK_22Hornet]

It looks like Myford lathes also used this type of fittings and a company in the UK lists a gun for the Myford lathe, complete with a photo of the same type fitting. It's 34.95 pounds. Here is a link to the site Hope this helps. I found references to the fittings as "raised barrel oil nipples" (that made for an interesting Google search!). As for a gun, I read a couple posts on other forums about buying teh little pistol grip grease gun, removing the plunger and sealing the hole it went through and filling it with oil - you have to hold it upside down to get the pump to work.

http://www.lathespares.co.uk/oil-lubrication-c-31/oil-gun-myford-lathe-raised-barrel-nipples-p-528

I also ran across these being called old style Zerk fittings on a US site that has an adapter for about $10 their number LUB093. http://restorationstuff.com/



Hope this helps.

 

[valleyboy101]

Thanks SEK_22hornet,
They are indeed straight zerk fittings. Looks like a nice oil gun, but it would basically cost me $100. by the time I got it here. However they do show my kind of oil fitting as compatible, and it doesn't leak. Before I go that route I've got a couple of small push type guns that I'll try. Except for not pumping oil, there is nothing worse than an oil can that leaks everywhere. Thanks for your research and suggestions.
Tomorrow is snow and freezing rain so it will be a good day to play in the shop - same as every other day.
Michael

 

[SEK_22Hornet]

No problem - we've had freezing rain here all day so I've been going stir crazy in the house! Did you catch the coupler I mentioned for $9.50? It fits a standard 1/8" pipe thread. I'll bet you can make one out a small piece of aluminun or brass - just bore it to be a slip fit over the outside and put a small hole in the center, thread the back end for 1/8" pipe and go!

 

[valleyboy101]

Thanks Dan,
Yes I can make the adapter - no need to buy something as simple as that. The gun is another matter. Tonight I had a look at the 2 guns in the picture. I don't think the little one has much of a chance as it has no seal in the base. The larger one however has a neoprene seal in the base to keep it from leaking, so tomorrow I'll clean the grease out of it and see what it can do. Keep you posted.
Michael