# What Oil For Enco 12x36



## jocat54 (May 2, 2016)

I am trying to figure out what oil to use for changing the oil in my Enco 12x36 and have decided that I am confused---(nothing new there) I think the spindle and gear box use the same oil and the apron is different. The owners manual that comes with the Enco is just about useless---just says machine oil.
Can someone enlighten this grumpy old man?

Thanks,
John


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## Bob Korves (May 2, 2016)

jocat54 said:


> I am trying to figure out what oil to use for changing the oil in my Enco 12x36 and have decided that I am confused---(nothing new there) I think the spindle and gear box use the same oil and the apron is different. The owners manual that comes with the Enco is just about useless---just says machine oil.
> Can someone enlighten this grumpy old man?
> 
> Thanks,
> John





jocat54 said:


> I am trying to figure out what oil to use for changing the oil in my Enco 12x36 and have decided that I am confused---(nothing new there) I think the spindle and gear box use the same oil and the apron is different. The owners manual that comes with the Enco is just about useless---just says machine oil.
> Can someone enlighten this grumpy old man?
> 
> Thanks,
> John


You did not post the model number so I am assuming it is a gear head lathe with an open quick change gear box.  Use ISO 68 AW hydraulic oil or spindle oil for the headstock.  Use way oil like Vactra #2 or comparable for the quick change gears and in the apron.  Those will definitely work.  Lube the half nuts and the worm and worm gear behind the apron manually and often with way oil or grease. For everything else, use way oil.  Oops, except for the headstock open gearing where you can use open gear lube or wire rope lubricant, or just grease.  You can also search the Grizzly site for a similar machine, and use their manual.  It will be in readable English and Grizzly has good parts support for those machines.


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## GarageGuy (Jun 5, 2016)

I have an Enco 13 x 40 gear head lathe.  My manual said to use ISO-32 oil in the gear box and apron.  That's standard 10 weight hydraulic oil.  Farm and Fleet has it in gallons, 5 gallon buckets, or 55 gallon drums.  It's cheap, too.  Mine takes less than a gallon.  

There are six oil holes on top of my quick change gear box for the gears.  If I'm going to be running the lead screw, I give each of them a shot.  I use Mobile Vactra #2 for the QCGB gears, ways, and lead screw.

GG


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## jocat54 (Jun 5, 2016)

Thanks, I changed the oil yesterday and put ISO-32 in the spindle and gear box and ISO-68 in the apron.
Took a little less than a gallon for the spindle and gear box. Not much for the apron.


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## Mikesal (Jan 11, 2017)

Ok, what have I done.....I wanted to change the oil in the head of my Enco lathe (model 110-1351.....13x40 size).  I drained out almost two 2lb 7oz coffee cans of oil.  I started adding new oil from a 2 gallon jug.  I wound up pouring all 2 gallons in, but never got a reading on the little sight gage.

I stuck a rod down the fill hole on top as a dip stick & yup, there is lots of oil on the back side, but still nothing at the sight gage, even when I would momentarily turn the lathe on, in each direction.  I then noticed that there was an oil drip coming from the main spindle (apparently it doesn't like the oil level to be that high).

So, I've drained some of the oil back out, but not sure where to go from here.  How do you get the oil distributed throughout the head?  Any advice is appreciated.
Mike S


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## Bob Korves (Jan 12, 2017)

You probably need to clean the inside of the sight glass.


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## Groundhog (Jan 12, 2017)

jocat54 said:


> Thanks, I changed the oil yesterday and put ISO-32 in the spindle and gear box and ISO-68 in the apron.
> Took a little less than a gallon for the spindle and gear box. Not much for the apron.


That is what the manual for my 12x36 Harbor Freight says to use. Manuals for the 2 lathes seem to be almost interchangeable.


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## Mikesal (Jan 12, 2017)

The sight glass is very clear.  The oil level was just below "half" in the sight glass before I drained the original oil. 

Am I using the right fill plug?  It is located towards the back on the top of the gear box.  I didn't see any other plugs anywhere (I pulled the cover over the change gears too just to see too). 

Back when I first got this lathe (a used '97 model in 2005 at an auction) I found an on-line manual for it & printed one off, but now I can't find where I put it.  So I'm still stuck for the moment. 
thanks for any help,
Mike S


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## Mikesal (Jan 13, 2017)

Mystery solved......I'm an idiot.  The sight glass was so clear (but has slightly yellowed), and the new oil so clear (relative to the old oil), I hadn't noticed the oil level was already above it before I noticed while I was poured the new in......I proved nothing was amiss by taking the lid off of the gear head so I could look inside. 
thanks for the tips though.
Mike S


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## Groundhog (Jan 13, 2017)

When I first got my 12x36 I (also) could not tell how full it was because to the clearness. However, it was leaking around the spindle seal somewhere so I pulled the cover off and discovered that it was overfilled by about 1/2 gallon. I siphoned it to the "full" mark and it hasn't leaked since.


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## jocat54 (Jan 13, 2017)

Groundhog said:


> That is what the manual for my 12x36 Harbor Freight says to use. Manuals for the 2 lathes seem to be almost interchangeable.



I have since changed out the oil again and put ISO 68 in everything. The only real reason for doing so was what Matt from PM had in his manual for the PM 12x36 (same basic machine I think)--uses ISO 68 thru out and ISO 68 is a lot easier to find (for Me) TSC carries it.


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## Bob Korves (Jan 14, 2017)

My Kent USA 13x40 (Chinese) lathe was filled with the original and essentially unused factory oil when I got it.  It looked like molasses in there.  Nasty stuff.  I changed the oil with ISO 32 per the manufacturer's manual, which was much thinner than what was in the lathe.  The lathe seems noisier with the ISO 32 oil in it compared to the factory oil.  Living in a mild climate, I will put in ISO 68 next time and see how it works for me.  Climate in the shop makes a difference on what viscosity oil might work best, IMHO.  ISO 46 is also available, if we want to split the difference.


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## Groundhog (Jul 29, 2018)

Bob Korves said:


> . . .  I changed the oil with ISO 32 per the manufacturer's manual, which was much thinner than what was in the lathe.  The lathe seems noisier with the ISO 32 oil in it compared to the factory oil.  Living in a mild climate, I will put in ISO 68 next time and see how it works for me. . .



I bought my 12x35 Chinese lathe used and changed the (clean looking) oil before I ran it - it had been sitting for a long while. Like Bob I put ISO 32 in it and too it is noisy. And, like Bob, some day I'll try a heavier oil just to quiet it down.
Although, I remember that my Dad (a life long car dealer) telling me of a trick to quiet down noisy differentials - stuff banana peels into it! Maybe I'll try that?


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## Bob Korves (Jul 29, 2018)

Groundhog said:


> Although, I remember that my Dad (a life long car dealer) telling me of a trick to quiet down noisy differentials - stuff banana peels into it! Maybe I'll try that?


I have heard of sawdust used in gearboxes to quiet them for sale and maybe for the entire ride home.  After that, you are the test pilot!


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## Groundhog (Jul 29, 2018)

Bob Korves said:


> I have heard of sawdust used in gearboxes to quiet them for sale and maybe for the entire ride home.  After that, you are the test pilot!


Yeah, my Dad knew of quite a few "sales" tricks (he had repeate customers so I don't think he actually used them - except maybe on his good friends). Pepper in a leaky radiator, canned milk in tires with slow leaks (I used that in my bicycle tires for sticker leaks), leather belt pieces in lieu of bearings to quiet knocking rods and magnets on the oil pan to lessen metalic particles in the oil are a few that come to mind.


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