# Oil pump & oil wicks



## michieltje (Sep 28, 2020)

About half a year ago I bought this swiss milling machine. After thorough clean up it looked good and there wasn't a lot of wear in the mill (Scraping marks still visible on some places). I have opened up everything that was reasonably reachable and found some grease in some place that should be lubricated by oil. After getting the old grease out I tried to see if the oil pump would pump oil over the gears in the head/top of the machine and it didn't. When looking through the oil flow window I could not see oil flowing. After experimenting with the oil level (less and more oil in the gear box) and removing the oil winding and pouring oil throught that there has been flow for a little bit, but not for long. 
Where do I start with solving a problem like this? If it all possible I would like to have the gears and guts of the machine stay in place.
A secondary, less pressing problem; the oil cups have holes in them and I think there should be wicks in them. Does it matter what kind of wick or rope i put in there? Do you guys think it would be a problem if i just kept topping the oil cups every X hours of use?


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## Richard King 2 (Sep 28, 2020)

I am not sure what you mean  " removing the oil winding "  The translation or is there another word????   I would put in oil wicks...they can be bought at a store that sell  oil lamps, you can unwind the wick and slide it through the hole.  Another material for wick is a pipe cleaner ( used to clean tobacco pipes.   You can wind the wick or pipe in a coil in the cup.  Wet them with oil and they should wick oil.   As far as the pump, have you checked to see if there is a strainer (filter) at the bottom suction side of the pump?   What sort of pump is it?  Can you take a photo of it?  What brand and model machine is it?  Do you have a maintenance / parts/ operation manual?


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## Cooter Brown (Sep 30, 2020)

I get my replacement oil wick from McMaster-Carr they have lots of sizes.....









						McMaster-Carr
					

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.




					www.mcmaster.com


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## michieltje (Oct 4, 2020)

I've blown air through the oil system and saw air bubbling out of the pump, so there is no blockage in the pipes.
The next step I want to take is removing the pump from the gearbox. The copper pipes are now disconnected from the T-fitting and I'd like to pull out the mounting shaft using a bolt that fits inside the thread of the shaft but there is a set screw there keeping the axle in place. Can I pull the axle out and install it afterwards without a problem? The thread from the setscrew will have to be in exactly the same place as it is now and that does not sound like something that is easy to do.
What do you guys think?


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## michieltje (Oct 4, 2020)

Richard King 2 said:


> I am not sure what you mean  " removing the oil winding "  The translation or is there another word????   I would put in oil wicks...they can be bought at a store that sell  oil lamps, you can unwind the wick and slide it through the hole.  Another material for wick is a pipe cleaner ( used to clean tobacco pipes.   You can wind the wick or pipe in a coil in the cup.  Wet them with oil and they should wick oil.   As far as the pump, have you checked to see if there is a strainer (filter) at the bottom suction side of the pump?   What sort of pump is it?  Can you take a photo of it?  What brand and model machine is it?  Do you have a maintenance / parts/ operation manual?


Should be oil window instead of winding. (oil glass? The little plastic thing that shows you there is oil in there)
It is a Starrag milling machine, never see anything like it. Can't find anything about the manufacturer's early days or any documentation on the machine.
I could feel an inlet pipe on the underside of the pump but it felt like an open pipe without filter. I'll try to remove the complete pump to see if everything is as it should be on the inside.


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## Cooter Brown (Oct 4, 2020)

Well McMaster-Carr Also sells those....lol They are called Oil Sights....










						McMaster-Carr
					

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.




					www.mcmaster.com


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 5, 2020)

I used to order these from a local industrial supply.  https://www.gitsmfg.com/catalog/liquidlevelgauges/


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## michieltje (Oct 5, 2020)

Though i appreciate the answers, the problem isn't that the gauge is broken. It lies in the fact that there is no fluid moving through it.


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 5, 2020)

Other members read these Q&A, so lets hope someone else can figure it out  Before dismantling the set screw lock, scribe lines on the 2 half's .  Also when you put it back in you can grind a longer bevel on the set screw or just drill and tap another one if it doesn't line up.    Have you pulled the pump to make sure it's OK....  Do you have the motor running the right direction....I'm trying to help trouble shoot your issue.


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## Cooter Brown (Oct 5, 2020)

Did you pull the sight glass off yet?  Have you checked those lines to make sure the aren't clogged up? Maybe try an air compressor to blow out the lines.... turn the pressure down.....lol


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## michieltje (Oct 7, 2020)

Richard King 2 said:


> Other members read these Q&A, so lets hope someone else can figure it out  Before dismantling the set screw lock, scribe lines on the 2 half's .  Also when you put it back in you can grind a longer bevel on the set screw or just drill and tap another one if it doesn't line up.    Have you pulled the pump to make sure it's OK....  Do you have the motor running the right direction....I'm trying to help trouble shoot your issue.


I have yet to pull it out, didn't know what to do with the set screw lock as I've never seen it before and don't know why it is installed that way. The marking of the parts is a very helpful tip!
Only one way to install the pump so that won't be a problem.


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## michieltje (Oct 7, 2020)

Cooter Brown said:


> Did you pull the sight glass off yet?  Have you checked those lines to make sure the aren't clogged up? Maybe try an air compressor to blow out the lines.... turn the pressure down.....lol


Yes I removed the glass and could hear air bubbling in the oil. also saw little bubbles on the parting line of the pump so there isn't a blockage. I'll try to run the pump with the pipes disconnected to see if there is any oil flow at all.


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 8, 2020)

Your hearing bubbles?   Check to see if the machine motor is running in the right direction.   How much oil is in the base?  Is there a oil height mark? The intake pipe may not down deep enough in the oil.

Many machine builders use the set screw between 2 diameters as a lock so it doesn't move in and out and rotate.  double check to be sure there is only one set screw in the tapped hole.


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## Cooter Brown (Oct 8, 2020)

Richard King 2 said:


> Many machine builders use the set screw between 2 diameters as a lock so it doesn't move in and out and rotate.  double check to be sure there is only one set screw in the tapped hole.



I still remember the first time I saw that on a machine it blew my bosses mind he hadn't seen it before..... We beat on that shaft for hours before we finally realized there was a 2nd set screw.... Now I always try to use a 2nd set screw on all my projects.....


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## michieltje (Oct 11, 2020)

Richard King 2 said:


> Other members read these Q&A, so lets hope someone else can figure it out  Before dismantling the set screw lock, scribe lines on the 2 half's .  Also when you put it back in you can grind a longer bevel on the set screw or just drill and tap another one if it doesn't line up.    Have you pulled the pump to make sure it's OK....  Do you have the motor running the right direction....I'm trying to help trouble shoot your issue.


Turns out the motor is wired up wrong and turning in the opposite direction. When moving the gears by hand I got some oil flow after blowing the pipes with compressed air. When i turned the motor on it was moving in the other direction..
I'll switch 2 of the 3 phases to get the motor to turn the other way and hope the issue is fixed.


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## michieltje (Oct 11, 2020)

Right now there are 2 gears that are not getting lubricated by oil. So far I have been using grease on them every so many hours but this it not something that should be permanent as it is a chore to remove the cover. Beside that it probably should be lubricated by some sort of oil and not a grease because of the high rpm's. I cannot find any oil line that leads to these gears
There are 2 options that seem like a good solotion. The first one being plugging a drain hole in the bottom and making this oil bath lubrication. There is an existing hole in the bottom that the oil drains out of into the main reservoir (where the pump is located). I could tap this hole and put in a set screw but I have concers with vibrations and having the screw stay in place. Another option would be to use some silicon and seal the hole off.

Another option would be drilling a new oil line that makes oil flow over the gears. Behind the oil line there is a small reservoir that the oil gets pumped into. From this reservoir there are 4 lines on the bottom that gravity feed oil over a few numbers of gears. The green arrow in the picture is where I would drill the new line, it would flow just on top of the gears and the oil will drain into the main oil tank.
The obvious downside with making another oil bath is that draining this would be a pain.
What do you guys think about this?


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## Richard King 2 (Oct 12, 2020)

I am glad you checked the motor direction, I have seen this happen before.  It seems as if the factory would have designed it so it would get oil don't you think?   How about making a 1/16"  paper gasket and Permatex or blue Silicone (glue) it to the cover (not both sides as you don't want it ripping into a dozen pieces when you open it up...  Assemble it and run it for say 15 minutes and shut it off and open it up right away and observe if the gears are wet.   I agree it is probably a oil bath.


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