# Ball oiler



## Jude (Jan 7, 2018)

How do you fill the little ball oilers on a mini lathe?
ALSO, what oil do you use, my new g0765 recommends ISO  32.  Is there a good alternative?


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## Silverbullet (Jan 7, 2018)

I'd suggest ordering some at least from eBay , but if your in a hurry a light 20 wt oil will be ok . If you could get non detergent it would be better.


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## 4GSR (Jan 7, 2018)

They make oil cans with pointy tips made to push down the ball to inject oil into the oiler.
There are several threads on H-M explaining more detail of this very subject.


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## Dave Paine (Jan 7, 2018)

ISO 32 = SAE 10W.   Many places sell oils of this light weight.


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## Groundhog (Jan 7, 2018)

ISO oils are hydraulic oils. You can usually find it fairly inexpensively at farm supply stores. It is used for tractor hydraulic / transmission systems. You can probably find an oil can with a pointy tip there too.


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## Bob Korves (Jan 7, 2018)

ISO is just a name for a standards organization:
https://www.iso.org/

It is the metric equivalent of SAE in this country (Society of Automotive Engineers).
https://www.sae.org/

Those groups (and others) make and maintain standards for all kinds of measurements.

Saying SAE10 oil or ISO32 oil is only speaking about its viscosity, nothing else.


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## Groundhog (Jan 7, 2018)

Bob is absolutely right.
I guess I just always think of ISO 32 (and other oils specified as ISO) as hydraulic oils, which they are not necessarily. I find that is is usually easier to find ISO32 hydraulic oil than it is to find SAE10 (non-detergent).


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## Bob Korves (Jan 7, 2018)

If you buy motor oil outside the U.S., I expect it will be labeled in ISO viscosity.  I use hydraulic oil as well for my machines, AW32 or AW64.  I sometimes mix them to a rough equivalent of AW46.


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## cascao (Jan 8, 2018)

SAE oils are for automotive use.
ISO oils are for industrial aplications.

Sometimes we can do a crossover, but it isn't ideal.


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## Bob Korves (Jan 8, 2018)

cascao said:


> SAE oils are for automotive use.
> ISO oils are for industrial aplications.
> 
> Sometimes we can do a crossover, but it isn't ideal.


Those incorrect statements are a byproduct of which lubricants you purchase and which system is commonly used for specific markets.  The truth is that ISO and SAE are very much the same thing as saying a 12 mm bolt or a 1/2 inch bolt.  Different measuring systems, nothing else. Still bolts.  It helps a lot to have the charts ingrained in your mind, or a chart handy:
https://bobistheoilguy.com/viscosity-charts/
It is all part of the same continuum, in multiple languages.


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## Groundhog (Jan 9, 2018)

Bob, Do you have any idea why in the USA most lubricants are marketed using SAE except for hydraulic oils which use ISO (at least that is what I see most often)? Is that just another American bastardization?


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## Bob Korves (Jan 9, 2018)

Groundhog said:


> Bob, Do you have any idea why in the USA most lubricants are marketed using SAE except for hydraulic oils which use ISO (at least that is what I see most often)? Is that just another American bastardization?


Convention.  "We have been doing it this way for more than a century.  It was good enough for grandpa, good enough for dad, and good enough for me.  Why fix something that ain't broken?"  The other side of the coin is "Why remain a island with old technology that does not mesh with the rest of the world?  It costs us lots of potential income and extra effort to make things that the rest of the world does not want.  Why keep pushing back against the inevitable?"  There is a sort of middle ground that says that when using computers and CNC equipment it really doesn't matter very much.  The machines can make Whitworth threads just about as easily as ISO threads, and tooling needs do not change much.  For hobby machinists, we can make anything we damn well please!  We are still prisoners to what is available for our materials and consumables.


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## Bob Korves (Jan 9, 2018)

There is more.  We are rapidly coming to a place where standards can be increasingly eliminated, and manufacturers will be able to do engineering work at the same time they are doing CAD/CAM work.  Basically designing, engineering, and optimizing the part as it is drawn, all in integrated software.  Then standards become almost meaningless, and it gives manufacturers the opportunity to use completely non standard parts in their products.  They could make fasteners for an automobile that are all different from each other and from anything used in the past.  That gives them total control over their product, and keeps the aftermarket away for service.  No standards whatsoever.  Instant and effective monopoly, no patents needed!  It worked before the mid 1800's, and could happen again.
Edit:  There I go, off topic again.


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## 4GSR (Jan 9, 2018)

Lets throw in one more factor in the grades of oils and has authority over SAE or ISO.  The organization called The American Petroleum Institute, API, and are the guys that dictate or controls of what comes out of the refinery in the way of oils long before SAE or ISO comes in.  I will say API is the ISO of the oil industry, both have guidelines and standards that run side by side.  SAE is slowly letting ISO/API take over what they used to govern in specifications of oil requirements for the automotive industry.


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## 4GSR (Jan 9, 2018)

Great history lesson and teaching of oil grades and who controls the chemistry of them, too.

Lets get this back on track before it gets locked. Let see, were we talking about ball oilers? Yea?


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## HBilly1022 (Jan 9, 2018)

A small plastic oil bottle with a steel tube and steel end cap came with both of my asian lathes. They don't seem to work very well though. No mater how I hold the tip of the oil tip against the ball oiler, I get a LOT more oil on the outside of the oiler than in it. I bought an all steel one and that does the same thing. Anyone have a link to some thing that works?


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## royesses (Jan 9, 2018)

I use an oil pump can, mine is a goldenrod. I put a piece of rubber hose over the end, extending about  1/16" further out than the nozzle tip. Then push the nozzle into the ball. The tip opens the ball and the rubber hose seals it. The hose must be very tight on the nozzle. If I remember correctly I used 3/16" vacuum hose on mine. I very seldom get any leakage now.

Roy


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## Bob Korves (Jan 9, 2018)

I use a pump oiler with a short (~1-1/2" long) piece of 3/16" O.D. clear Tygon or vinyl tubing pushed over the end.  Make sure the end that will contact the oiler is cut square and clean, no nicks.  Grab the tubing between thumb and forefinger and push it down firmly over the ball oiler.  Pump oil.  you will see it come up into the plastic tubing and then into the oiler.  It works very well, no mess, less wastage.  That tubing gets hard after a few months in contact with oil.  Replace it often, it is cheap.


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## HBilly1022 (Jan 9, 2018)

Thanks for the tips Roy and Bob. 

The all steel one I bought was a pump "goldenrod" too. Now I know how to improve this annoying little task.


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## 4GSR (Jan 9, 2018)

I haven't tried it yet. Might try to modify the end on a flexible spout on a Golden Rod oil can to fit the ball oiler.  Might be a trick to chuck up on the very end of it.  Machine a 45 degree bevel, that way gives you a way to center up on the ball oiler.


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## MSD0 (Jan 11, 2018)

Something this would probably work.


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## SSage (Jan 11, 2018)

Tractor Supply, aka TSC has ISO oils and the goldenrod high pressure oil cans. I've been using the Mystic brand oils in my machines. I think the fine pointed oil cans work best. I have the Goldenrod cans with the rigid spouts off ebay for around $10 plus shipping and  I have a TSC oil can and it works good if you like the flex version. Its nice sometimes to just pick one up locally. Maybe you have a TSC or other AG store near by. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/goldenrod-606-oiler-6-oz?cm_vc=IOPDP1


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## Jmanb13 (Jan 11, 2018)

The PM-25MV manual has a little specific information about the ball oilers and how to use them. It says use a tip that seals AROUND the ball. The oil pressure that is applied pushes the ball down and lets the oil flow past.


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## 4GSR (Jan 11, 2018)

Here's some pictures of a oil can I have with the pointy spout.  It works very good on the ball oilers on my machines.


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## Sheather (Jan 11, 2018)

Like Roy & Bob, I have been very happy using a small piece of flexible tubing on the tip of a readily available oil can (from Tractor Supply Co.) I recently bought some small engine fuel hose from an auto parts store which has been holding up very well. Previously I'd used some black rubber hose, which was attacked by the way oil, making it very soft and useless after a couple weeks. The fuel hose has been working wonderfully for several months now.

This style with the flexible spout requires two hands to use. With one hand, I hold it relatively close to the tip, putting pressure on the tubing against the ball oiler. The other I use to pump the oil. Nearly all the oil, except for a couple drops, ends up inside the ball oiler port. If all your oilers are easy to access, the non-flexible type would probably be even easier to use. 

A three-foot package of fuel hose was less than $5.00, and the oil can was less than $15.00.


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## 4GSR (Jan 11, 2018)

The oil can I show in my previous post is no longer made if anyone was wondering about where to find one.


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## benmychree (Jul 19, 2018)

I READ SOMEWHERE LONG AGO, THAT THOSE CONICAL TIPS ON THE OIL CANS SHOWN ARE THE THING TO USE, BUT THAT THE BALL TENDS TO SEAL OFF THE HOLE THAT DELIVERS THE OIL AND THAT CAN BE SOLVED BY FILING A SHALLOW VEE WITH A TRIANGULAR FILE ACROSS THE TIP, TO ALLOW OIL TO FLOW MORE EASILYPAST THE BALL.  I HAVE NEVER TRIED IT, AND PERSONALLY DETEST BALL OILERS FOR THE MOST PART, AND WOULD REPLACE THEM WITH GITS STYLE HINGED TOP OILERS.


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## Mitch Alsup (Jul 19, 2018)

I use a small allen wrench to push on the ball, and use the spout of the oil can to drip a drop of oil on the wrench, then I watch teh oil seep into the recess.


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## Superburban (Jul 19, 2018)

Choosing oils, is not as simple as saying ISO32 is not on the shelf, so I can grab an SAE 10.  They may have similar viscositys, but that is where the similarities part ways. 

Think about it, an engine oil (you want the lubrication, but also want it to easily scrape off the cylinder walls. A way oil, you want it to stick to the ways, and not attract metal particles, and dust. Newer engine oils, do not have the extreme pressure additives that older non roller cam lifter engines need. So even an SAE 10W30, is not the same as another SAE10W30. You need to look at the SE, SF, ect grade designation.

Different worlds, need different oils. You have a big investment in your machines, why cut corners on maintenance?

A good reading.
http://www.duboischemicals.com/metalworking/Lubes Guide.pdf


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## MSD0 (Jul 21, 2018)

benmychree said:


> I READ SOMEWHERE LONG AGO, THAT THOSE CONICAL TIPS ON THE OIL CANS SHOWN ARE THE THING TO USE, BUT THAT THE BALL TENDS TO SEAL OFF THE HOLE THAT DELIVERS THE OIL AND THAT CAN BE SOLVED BY FILING A SHALLOW VEE WITH A TRIANGULAR FILE ACROSS THE TIP, TO ALLOW OIL TO FLOW MORE EASILYPAST THE BALL.  I HAVE NEVER TRIED IT, AND PERSONALLY DETEST BALL OILERS FOR THE MOST PART, AND WOULD REPLACE THEM WITH GITS STYLE HINGED TOP OILERS.


I think that would make it worse. You need a good seal between the tip and the body of the oiler so that the oil can unseat the ball.


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## markba633csi (Jul 21, 2018)

I think ball oilers are silly too, and messy


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## Shootymacshootface (Jul 22, 2018)

I have 2 cans and they both have brass tips that seal very well as long as there is in line access to the ball oiler. I use bar oil on anything that needs lube, including the central oiler on my mill.


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