# Bijur Oiler Pump Meter Valve Cleaning & Such. FJB-1, FJB-0



## middle.road (Mar 11, 2018)

Adventures in Bijur metering valve cleaning... It is said that it can't be done.
I may have stumbled onto a method that works.

Short Version: (YMMV)
Required materials: Brake Cleaner, Berrymans Carb Cleaner, Dawn Dish Soap, Old Sauce Pan, Marinade Syringe, various hoses and adapters.
Required Permits: _Permission _from your Better-Half to use the stove. Unless alternative method of heating is available.

Remove the FJB-1's, FJB-0's or what have you from the manifolds. Don't forget the ones on the pump itself. (I did.)
(take note of which ones went in which holes...)

- Soak in Brake Cleaner for an hour or so, agitating as much as possible.
- Toss into the Berrymans. Allow to soak. Take Better-Half out to dinner in preparation for Step 3.
- Half fill the sauce pan with a large amount of Dawn and H2O. Toss in the valves, bring to a rolling boil.

After steps 1 & 2, with another syringe, attempt to flush out the crap in the openings of the valves using whatever you want to.

Rig up the Marinade Syringe to thread on to the end of the valve. Get a bowl of hot tap water with Dawn ready in the slop sink.
(I have got to finish remodeling the portion of the house where the slop sink is going to be installed...)

I took them one at a time from the boiling water, hooked them up to the syringe (_mind the direction of the arrow_) and then forced fed more Dawn through them. It takes some time and effort. Took awhile, and a couple were stubborn so I just tossed them back into the pan to boil some more.
---
As I reckon - the trick here is to get the 'wax' and 'varnish' build up out of the valves and the Heat along with the Dawn breaks down the wax to allow for cleaning.

It is stated in several places on the Web that you have to replace the FJBx metering valves, that there is no known way to clean/repair them. Well @ $15/ea that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
And after reading several threads it would seem that everything under the sun has been attempted. 

Prepping for the DRO install, I was checking out the extent of the 'X' travel of the table, which I had not done since acquiring the BP. 
I imagine that somewhere in the 'New to Me - Used Machinery Checklist Book for Dummies' there's a section on verifying the oil passages - which I skipped over.

I didn't know that the table would travel enough to expose the cross slide. And sure enough the passages were packed and solidified.
And here I've been yanking the handle on the Bijur since Summer of '15. (Here's your Sign...)
Upon researching teardown of the table, screw, saddle, ETC. I decided, due to a number of factors, that wasn't going to happen.
Now if I had a properly structured shop with 10' (min.) ceiliings and a rail hoist...

I jerry-rigged the pieces of two grease guns I had laying around to use as an oiler. (Leaks like a sieve unfortunately.)
Disconnected the manifold hose from the pump and disconnected the nylon hoses from the valves mounted on the manifold.
BTW, on this model, Bijur uses 5/32" compression fittings, and they have 5/16"-24UNF threads. 
Hooked up the "Model JR-1" Oiler Gun and started feeding the manifold using ISO32. Released the plug at the end to bleed off air and kept on pumping.
Only (2) of the (8) valves showed any seepage at all and what flow they were showing was pitiful.

I then made up another adapter to fit the lines and proceeded to pump oil through them to check the flow to the slides.
Had pretty decent success, only problems were one on the right side of the knee at the column and one on the right side saddle that put up a bit of a fight but were flowing finally after some coaxing with brake cleaner and WD-40 being forced upon them.

I realized that the proper way to have done this would have been to dis-assemble everything, but I just don't have the where-with-all to perform those tasks currently.


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## cathead (Mar 11, 2018)

Good post Dan!   I better take a look at my mill and see what needs attention.   Thanks for posting.


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## benmychree (Mar 11, 2018)

I was given a Brown & Sharpe 6 X 18 Micromaster surface grinder with a combined hydraulic and lube system with Bijur metering fittings, I changed the oil and filter and determined that several fittings were plugged up, and bought the requisite $15 fittings, as they cannot be taken apart for cleaning like the WW-2 era fittings are capable of.  I later discovered that off brand fittings are available for much less money, saw it on "the web".  
When I was an apprentice, we took apart the apron on a wartime Lodge & Shipley lathe and noted that all the automatic oiling was plugged up; I took the fittings off and discovered that the end of the fitting that the oil exited (a steel sleeve) was removable, and under it was a felt strainer and the metering pin that fits the ID of the fitting; I made new felts with a small gasket punch and cleaned all the parts with triclorethelene.  It was a success, it all oiled again.


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## middle.road (Mar 12, 2018)

benmychree said:


> I was given a Brown & Sharpe 6 X 18 Micromaster surface grinder with a combined hydraulic and lube system with Bijur metering fittings, I changed the oil and filter and determined that several fittings were plugged up, and bought the requisite $15 fittings, as they cannot be taken apart for cleaning like the WW-2 era fittings are capable of.  I later discovered that off brand fittings are available for much less money, saw it on "the web".
> When I was an apprentice, we took apart the apron on a wartime Lodge & Shipley lathe and noted that all the automatic oiling was plugged up; I took the fittings off and discovered that the end of the fitting that the oil exited (a steel sleeve) was removable, and under it was a felt strainer and the metering pin that fits the ID of the fitting; I made new felts with a small gasket punch and cleaned all the parts with triclorethelene.  It was a success, it all oiled again.


Ah, good ol' trichlor. I lived near the Lockformer site in Illinois back in the '90s when they discovered their problem with it. That's been ongoing for 20+ years.

Where did you see the off-brands? I haven't run across any yet. 
I missed the two for the knee that were in the Tee on the pump. I had taken the pump off and was spraying it down outside with Gunk and wasn't paying attention. They're in Berrymans now and I cleaned up and have put everything away (for a change...) after 'boiling' the (8). 

The pump is working well, one pull and it is working. I was checking it so much yesterday I have oil dribbling all over. 
Before it was taking 5-6 pulls to prime it.


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## benmychree (Mar 12, 2018)

Sorry, but I have forgotten where I saw it, but it was after I bought the pricey ones; perhaps Google "one shot oiling"?


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## middle.road (Mar 12, 2018)

benmychree said:


> Sorry, but I have forgotten where I saw it, but it was after I bought the pricey ones; perhaps Google "one shot oiling"?


Thanks! Found some, but they had metric threads and were a different design. Need to spend some more time at it.


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## middle.road (Mar 20, 2018)

OK, so, fix the oiler and now the puppy moves so much easier and smoother, to the point where it feels like the gibs need adjusting.
I have also discovered that, due to wear and age, there's 2.5" lost on the 'Y' saddle. 1.5" at the column and 1" out on the end.
But's it's easier to crank with all that lubrication getting where it needs to be...


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## middle.road (Feb 13, 2020)

Just an update in case anyone comes through here again looking for a solution to clogged metering units...
@strantor found ecomnomical replacement metering units over here:









						How is an automatic oiler supposed to work?
					

I have a CNC mill I'm in the middle of refurbishing. It has an old Bijur TM-5 oiler with an electric motor and a level switch. There's some cryptic mention of cycle time (27.7 min) in the datasheet for it. Am I just supposed to apply power to it any time the machine is powered on? Or during a...




					www.hobby-machinist.com


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## KevH (Mar 4, 2020)

I changed a few of my FJB0 to FJB1 and had a go at cleaning the old ones. I found what looked like fibres packed into the inlet side and picked them out with a bent paper clip shaped into a fine hook. The picture shows half of the fibres I pulled out.  Im guessing they come from the felt filter in the pump


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## Lo-Fi (Mar 4, 2020)

I found a way to clean mine that were totally clogged: Soak in carb cleaner for 24 hours, then briefly heat with a torch until they "puke" all of the garbage clogging the sintered material inside over the bench. Immediately withdraw the torch. The cleaner evaporating quickly seems to push the nasty schmoo out with it.


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