PM-1236T/1340GT- how much oil in the quick change gearbox?

[Christianstark]

So it looks like I am only getting drips on the right side of the tray. The further right, the more oil. The left bank of gears A-E and not getting ANY oil. time to look at solutions...

 

[Just for fun]

I guess I should look at mine a little closer. I've never looked at it very close.

 

[Ischgl99]

So it looks like I am only getting drips on the right side of the tray. The further right, the more oil. The left bank of gears A-E and not getting ANY oil. time to look at solutions...

If you just have the factory gauze in there, then that will happen, it is not very good at wicking the oil across the entire length. You might want to check that your lathe is level axially, if the headstock end is higher than the tailstock end, the oil will never flow towards the left side of the reservoir. If you want a project, David Best came up with a great solution that he shows on his webpage, but I’m cheap and impatient so went with $6 of felt that appears to be working. It’s actually 50 cents of felt, I just needed to buy at least 5 feet of it from McMaster-Carr.

 

[StevSmar]

…The further right, the more oil. The left bank of gears A-E and not getting ANY oil. time to look at solutions...

I put some magnets down to hold the factory gauze in place so it wouldn’t ball up during oiling. And then I have about 10” of 1/8” brass with a bit of model airplane fuel tubing on one end that can have the oil can’s spout held into it. I can then insert it to the far left and retract it while pumping the oil.

Better quality felt sounds like a more permanent solution though.

 

[Christianstark]

If you just have the factory gauze in there, then that will happen, it is not very good at wicking the oil across the entire length. You might want to check that your lathe is level axially, if the headstock end is higher than the tailstock end, the oil will never flow towards the left side of the reservoir. If you want a project, David Best came up with a great solution that he shows on his webpage, but I’m cheap and impatient so went with $6 of felt that appears to be working. It’s actually 50 cents of felt, I just needed to buy at least 5 feet of it from McMaster-Carr.

Interesting that the felt is working. You are getting even grips on each side? The oil port on my machine only dumps the oil on the far right hand side of the distribution plate. So you have some extra felt huh?

 

[Ischgl99]

Interesting that the felt is working. You are getting even grips on each side? The oil port on my machine only dumps the oil on the far right hand side of the distribution plate. So you have some extra felt huh?

The right hand side is going to get a bit more simply from being that is where the oil is injected and they start wicking first, but as long as your lathe is level axially, the oil will flow to all the points since it takes a few hours for all the oil to be used up.

My lathe hasn't been used for about a week and the reservoir was dry, the wicks were still wet with oil, it took about 5 minutes for 5 pumps from my oiler to get about a third of the way across the reservoir, but 10 pumps filled it within a couple minutes. I mentioned earlier in this thread 3-4 pumps per hour, but if the lathe has sat for several days or longer, I usually do twice that to start. I should also mention I am using ISO 46 oil in a basement at about 60F most of the year for this, so it flows fairly well. If you have a cold workshop, then this is likely not the way you want to do it, and if your shop is warmer, then a higher viscosity oil would be better.

I just checked about a half hour after putting in 10 pumps and all the gears have oil dripping from them. I can't really tell if it is even, but as long as each gear is getting at least what it needs, I don't care that another might be getting more. As of now, I like how this is working, but that can change at some point in the future and I decide to go with something else.

I have about 4 feet left of the felt, if you want some, message me your address and I will drop a piece in the mail to you.

 

[Christianstark]

Message sent!

 

[Christianstark]

I wound up taking my Norton Gearbox apart past few days. Replaced a few bearings with some better ones, and got all the paint overspray off my gears, did a bit of de-burring, etc. here’s what the box looked like prior.

 

[Just for fun]

How old is your lathe? Did you find anything that was actually bad? Or did you just change the bearings out for good of service?

 

[Ischgl99]

With David Best’s experience with the oil passages to the bearings being blocked, I have considered doing that myself.