Which hole do I slide my ballnut oiler into?

strantor

strantor

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I started this restoration of a 1988 Lagunmatic CNC mill a couple of years ago and now I'm picking up where I left off. I took lots of pictures and tagged everything with notes, because I know myself and I'm prone to extended hiatus(es?) in the middle of projects. So here's how it looked coming apart (this is the x-axis ballscrew/ballnut) :

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Ya see that little oiler tube just floating in mid-air? That was dribbling oil down onto the x-axis ballscrew. Right next to the wiper portion of the nut, which I suspect did its job and wiped all the oil off the ballscrew before it could get into the ballnut where it was needed.
20201217_192846.jpg


Probably not coincidentally, the balls inside were thoroughly thrashed. I had 7 thou of slop in the x-axis and when I took the balls out they were inconsistent sizes and out of round. (I re-balled it, hopefully it's not too far gone)

So I'm thinking that dribbling oil onto a ballscrew outside the ballnut is not an effective means of lubrication. Am I correct? I would be happy to be wrong and just put it back the way it was; that would be easy.

But there's this nagging little hole on the bottom quadrant of the ballnut that looks suspiciously like the image results that I get when I google "ballnut oil hole." However, those images all show fittings. I have no fittings. The hole is not threaded and I'm not even 100% certain that it goes all the way through. Oil tube conveniently fits right in there. With some RTV or something, it might not even leak. Buuuttt.... since it's on the bottom I'm not sure the oil would get up to where it needs to be. I would expect the hole to be in the top of it were for oil.


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So do I cram my tube in that hole or let it dribble on the ballscrew?
 
Looks like this dude crams into the hole and calls it good, didn't even put silicone.

 
Ok i pulled the ballscrew assembly back out, just to make sure that hole goes all the way through. Good thing. It didn't that was the set screw hole for the wiper. There's another hole on the back lower quadrant that does go all the way through. I crammed my hoes in there, pumped the oiler, and the screw comes out of the nut wet with lube. I think that's the winning hole and I think I answered my own question. If someone disagrees please speak up before I finish putting this thing back together wrong.
 
No need for any sealer. This is typical on many machines.
 
strantor said:
Ok i pulled the ballscrew assembly back out, just to make sure that hole goes all the way through. Good thing. It didn't that was the set screw hole for the wiper. There's another hole on the back lower quadrant that does go all the way through. I crammed my hoes in there, pumped the oiler, and the screw comes out of the nut wet with lube. I think that's the winning hole and I think I answered my own question. If someone disagrees please speak up before I finish putting this thing back together wrong.
Click to expand...

Ok im sorry but thats some funny $h!t right there
 
I was going to say that first hole you had the tube shown in was for a set screw to retain the mounting flange. Even coming from the lower side the balls will pick up oil and carry it around.
 
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