# Draining Gearhead Oil -  Jet 1340 Lathe



## Bib Overalls (Mar 10, 2016)

My new to me Jet 1340 lathe came with some rather nasty looking oil.  UPS delivered two gallons of Mobile Heavy/Medium ISO 68 circulating oil today (Zoro Tools, $31 per gallon with free shipping over $50).  I have figured how to get the new oil in but I am not up to speed on getting the old oil out.  Looks like you remove a small bolt or plug on the end of the lathe.  Looks like a mega mess waiting to happen.  Does anybody know of a trick or technique for getting the old lube out and in a bucket without getting most of it on the floor?


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## TOOLMASTER (Mar 10, 2016)

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...ci_sku=33226&gclid=CN7WkKrHt8sCFQmQaQodIC4MMQ


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## Chipper5783 (Mar 10, 2016)

The main gear unit on my little Maho is like that (pretty small machine, but holds about a gallon).  I put down a bunch of blotter pads, got a piece of hose (heater hose?), pulled the plug and held the hose on as best I could.  I was able to catch about 80% of the oil and the blotters caught the rest.  I doubt I'll change the oil more often than once every 10 years - for that sort of frequency I didn't see the merit in working out a fancy solution.

Since you have a lathe, could you make up a fitting to go where the plug/bolt is with a hose connection?  There will be a small spill when you swap the fitting in.  Would that be in a place that would be difficult to clean up?


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## Bib Overalls (Mar 10, 2016)

Sucking out the oil is an idea but 50 bucks and shipping for something I will do once (I'm 73) is a bit pricy.  I may try a syphon.

Thought about making a fitting but I would have to remove the plug to get the correct thread which seems to be self defeating.

Hoping someone here knows the trick.


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## dlane (Mar 10, 2016)

Can you divert the oil with cardboard or somthing into the bucket


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## Bob Korves (Mar 11, 2016)

I can't remember all the details, but I bent a scrap piece of thin sheet metal into a trough, taped it to the headstock, and directed it to a shallow drain pan in the chip pan.  Rube Goldberg job, but did not spill a drop!  Edit: that was on a Kent 13x40


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## Tony Wells (Mar 11, 2016)

Clean the immediate area of the drain hole and use some modeling clay to form a "spout" to get the actual srip area away from the headstock box. Should be able to dump into a funnel. For next time, if you want, it's probably just NPT, so you could just put an appropriate length nipple in and cap the end. All you need it to get it away from the box so it doesn't run all over.

If you have a little time but no clay, you can use RTV silicone to do more or less the same thing, just harder to get much length.


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## TommyD (Mar 11, 2016)

Some of the chinese products come with metric thread, I'm dealing with that issue trying to change the drain plug on my HF degreaser tub into a valve. Take the plug with you to wherever you go for the nipple. We have Jets at skool but my previous boss had a company come in, before my time, to change the oil. With the lack of use on them I don't see me changing it out soon.


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## derf (Mar 11, 2016)

Find one of those little cheap drill pumps and siphon it out. I've seen those at HF for 5.99.


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## Badspellar (Mar 11, 2016)

I use an old 5 gallon bucket and a shop vac.


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## Cobra (Mar 11, 2016)

You're going to make a mess the first time. 
Get a pipe nipple and cap that you can thread into the headstock. 
Either drain the oil and then add the nipple or you can try adding the nipple to direct the oil to a container


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## Steve Shannon (Mar 11, 2016)

You may be able to reach inside and plug the drain inside the headstock with a small plug before undoing the drain on the outside.


 Steve Shannon, P.E.


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## TommyD (Mar 12, 2016)

The 5 gallon bucket might just work, I have a similar set up for my media blast cabinet to clear out the dust as I blast.


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## tertiaryjim (Mar 12, 2016)

That bucket idea is one that several people, over the years, has told me of using. Never tried it myself.
The drain is possibly a straight metric thread. No taper to it. If you have metric capacity on the lathe you could make whatever nipple needed.


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## benmychree (Mar 19, 2016)

tertiaryjim said:


> That bucket idea is one that several people, over the years, has told me of using. Never tried it myself.
> The drain is possibly a straight metric thread. No taper to it. If you have metric capacity on the lathe you could make whatever nipple needed.


If it is a pipe thread, it is likely a British straight pipe thread; the metric countries have a metric pipe thread, but is seems that they rarely use it, rather, they use the British (inch based ) thread instead.


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## ncwbob (Aug 21, 2017)

Here is how one guy did it, I just bought a "new to me" ENCO 111-1450 and need to change oil soon so found this on youtube.

There is a lot of fiddling around in this video before the guy gets to what one might term, the pertinent info, that is about the 10 minute point so you might want to "jump" to that part to see what he did that was cool.

He used aluminum tape to build a little trough then tape it under the drain plug so it directed the oil out to a plastic tub. Seemed to work well until he got tired of holding the tub, switched to a plastic cup and it over flowed for a nice mess...

If I were to do it this way, I'd get a scrap section of PVC pipe, I have plenty, then make the trough so it is taped to the PVC pipe then tape that under the drain plug. Oil flows into trough, into tube, out far enough so my catch tub can simply sat on the floor in front of the lathe.

Before removing the drain plug be sure the contraption is all supported to I can remove the drain plug and walk away and let it drain for an hour or more.

It might help to start up the lathe and let it run a while to heat up the oil? I would also get a large magnet and place it in the bottom of the gearbox, but before that I would use my strong pickup magnet to dredge the bottom of the gearbox for any possible metal bits resting there, this of course would apply if you remove your gear box cover.

Bob


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## Tozguy (Aug 22, 2017)

For the first oil change I highly recommend taking the top cover off and using a wet shop vac with a length of 1/4 to 3/8 hose adapted to the vac nozzle. It really takes the headache out of oil changes!


Not only will this allow you to get all the oil out but also pick up any guck or sand or ?? that may be sitting on the bottom. With the cover off you can inspect the gear box for gear alignment and anything loose or unusual. While the gear box is dry, you can modify the drain plug to make things easier to drain for next time along the lines mentioned above. Since my oil changes are few and far between I prefer to use the shop vac approach every time so I can do a visual inspection.

BTW this same shop vac is kept near the lathe (set up for wet) so I can use it to collect chips in tight spots in and around the chuck (instead of using compressed air).


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## Bamban (Aug 22, 2017)

When replaced the oil in my 1236, I just lifted the top cover and used this IF special to suck the oil out into a 1 gallon container. Not super fast, but more than adequate to get the job done and no mess.





https://m.harborfreight.com/gear-oil-and-fluid-pump-61746.html


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## pdentrem (Aug 22, 2017)

Used a bottle hooked up to a vacuum source to suck out the oil from a Paxton supercharger. Works great.


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