# Pm 727 Way And Screw Lube



## kf4zht (Sep 13, 2016)

My 727 has always been a little stiffer than I liked, even with the locks out. Read someone on here suggest removing the bed assembly and really clean well under everything. Sure enough giant globs of cosmoline and grease everywhere. Going to give it a good cleaning and oiling but have a couple questions while it is apart

1. What should the screws be lubricated with? I can only see the oil port at the front, no easy way to lube the screw. Is this a good place for grease?

2. Kinda liking the idea of a one shot oiler. Right now I crank the bed all around to brush way oil on and feel the I miss spots. I don't have a second mill, but how crazy would it be to cut the oiling slots with an angle grinder or dremel? Based on what I have seen it doesn't look that hard and the ports could be easily drilled with a hand drill. 

3. I see the adjustment on the nuts for the lead screws. Is this what I turn to reduce backlash? 

Anything else I should do while it's apart?


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## lpeedin (Sep 14, 2016)

I lube my lead screw with standard lithium based grease.  Not the white stuff in the spray can, but the stuff that comes in a long tube to be used in a grease gun.  It is cheap, lasts a long time, and available literally everywhere. 

I like the idea of a one shot oiler myself, but I don't have the desire to try to install one.  If you wanted to put in oil grooves, it could be easily done with a dremel.  I think I would avoid an angle grinder as one slip-up and you could cut into something you don't want to.  If you do it, make sure to sand down any raised edges or burrs that might develop before reassembly.  

The adjustments for backlash are indeed on the brass lead-screw nut itself.  I have found that the brass is of a rather soft variety and that any time I tried to adjust the backlash, it reverted back the the same amount of backlash rather quickly.  I haven't adjusted mine in about a year and since I have a set of igaging DRO's, it doesn't affect me at all.


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## qualitymachinetools (Sep 18, 2016)

I use Way Oil, makes a big difference.   There is a link to download the manual on our web site on the page for the PM-727M that should cover the backlash adjustments, but yes, that is what those are.  If you cant find it, email me and I can send a copy for you.


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## wrmiller (Sep 18, 2016)

kf4zht said:


> My 727 has always been a little stiffer than I liked, even with the locks out. Read someone on here suggest removing the bed assembly and really clean well under everything. Sure enough giant globs of cosmoline and grease everywhere. Going to give it a good cleaning and oiling but have a couple questions while it is apart
> 
> 1. What should the screws be lubricated with? I can only see the oil port at the front, no easy way to lube the screw. Is this a good place for grease?
> 
> 2. Kinda liking the idea of a one shot oiler. Right now I crank the bed all around to brush way oil on and feel the I miss spots. I don't have a second mill, but how crazy would it be to cut the oiling slots with an angle grinder or dremel? Based on what I have seen it doesn't look that hard and the ports could be easily drilled with a hand drill?



I installed a one shot oiler on a larger bench mill and really liked it. Hand drill for the oil passages, tap for the fittings, and Dremmel with a carbide burr for the slots.


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