Atlas Horizontal mill

Good Luck with the ramps.
It's raining here so no yard work for now.. I was called in to work at 2:30 AM for a few hours and just got up. Now I gotta find some coffee.
:coffee break:
 
I used to be subject to those middle of the night call-ins. I don't miss them a bit. You have my sympathy.

I'm interested in your comment "bearings themselves still had lube". I thought the spindle bearings were lubricated by the oil cups inside the body of the mill. When I oil mine there, the oil runs out of the spindle in front and back. Did yours have some sort of grease or something? Good luck with the re-assembly.
 
Wheels17 said:
I used to be subject to those middle of the night call-ins. I don't miss them a bit. You have my sympathy.

I'm interested in your comment "bearings themselves still had lube". I thought the spindle bearings were lubricated by the oil cups inside the body of the mill. When I oil mine there, the oil runs out of the spindle in front and back. Did yours have some sort of grease or something? Good luck with the re-assembly.
Click to expand...

Yeah, fixin' water pipes in the night ain't for wimps.

I was concerned that the cavity the bearing rests in was so dry, but the bearing itself was wet with lube. Was it oil or grease? IDK.. it was black and felt slippery. LOL.
I need to get a couple of the oilers too. I can't see where they went.

I do oil the spindle as well as the other points before use but who knows what the previous users did. I am going to wipe some grease into the bearings before install for my piece of mind. I'm also considering going into a more viscous oil for the spindles, perhaps the same as what I use in the gearbox of the lathe.
 
Anyone know which of the Gits oilers is used in the spindle area? The MMB just says oiler.
 
34_40 said:
I was called in to work at 2:30 AM for a few hours and just got up. Now I gotta find some coffee.
:coffee break:
Click to expand...

I also used to subjected to these calls. I used to tell the night shift that they were just lonely and wanted company. I do not miss that part of full time work. Now I just have to remind my part time job that it is just part time.:grin: Seems that they conveniently want to forget that part.
 
Here's a shot of my oilers for the spindle.
Oilers.jpg
I took a better picture of the top, but it just says "Gits Oiler Co. Pat." Based on the close quarters, they must just be push-in oilers. I put a tiny set of calipers in there and measured the base as .240, but that's above the press-in part, so they must be the next size down from 1/4"

Here's the first few listings of the press-in ones from McMaster:

McMaster Gits.jpg


While we're on the subject of oil, I'm confused by the oilers on my countershaft. The bearings on the countershaft look like oilite bearings, not conventional bearing bronze. There are side oilers on the bearings, but they sat for two weeks without the shaft in and lost no oil. The countershaft assembly doesn't look original to the mill (I had to modify it to make it line up properly) so I'm wondering if someone switched out the bearings. The shaft itself is pristine in the bearing area.

Anybody have any experience here? I'm tempted to pull out one of my little number drills and poke a tiny hole.
 
Well I got some progress to report.
I started by removing the back drive shaft and gear, easily done. Cleaned up those parts and noticed that there is supposed to be a screw in the center that covers the oil hole.. I found a screw that fit easily and was proud of myself for making "an improvement" if you will..

So I then got the countershaft apart from the motor drive so I could install the new belt onto the pulleys. Had to chuck up the shaft in the lathe and pass a file over it and then polish it with some crocus cloth. Put all that back together and then got the spindle in my sites. The hardest part of all this (for me) is the small opening you have to get your hand into to support the pulleys / gears / collars, Well, add into the task of holding a NEW drivebelt and trying to align the spindle through the bearings / front gear / pulley collar..... arrggghhhh...

So I undid the motor drive countershaft work so I could have all the slack at the spindle. Finished all the spindle work and then returned to the motor drive countershaft and re-installed all those parts. I noticed while lubing the drive countershaft that the oil didn't go down... so I took a tiny screwdriver and expected it to pass through the oil hole.. but it didn't. So that explains why the bushing look so grooved. I pushed a 1/8" drill through and they'll get plenty of oil now.

Please with my progress... and myself... I pulled on the belt and spun the spindle round only to have it come to a quick stop! And I mean "chunk"! My heart sank.. LOL..

I'll make a long story short - remember that screw that I put into the backgear spindle to keep the lube hole clean? Yep, even tho' I measured.. it was just a few thou. to long and caused a bind. So it isn't all bad...

Now I can actually get to the cause of all this work... The table auto feed drive.. Thanks for the info Wheels.. there was another fella here that got his oiler(s) from mcmaster.. but I can't find any number on his thread. so I thank you for the info and the help. Maybe my countershaft story helps you..
 
I think you addressed my oil question in your description of the spindle work. When you say you "pushed" a 1/8" drill through, did you really just push it through or did you drill it? Did your countershaft bearing look like solid bearing material or sintered (oilite)? I think I'm going to take one of my smallest number drills and drill a hole through the bearing. I can always make the hole bigger later, and clean up the extra oil that drips out.
 
Pushed = drilled in this case.
Looks like oilite bushings. but either I can't see any hole that was mis-aligned... or it just didn't exist. I wanted the oil to flush out the bearings so I went big as it were..
I just ordered a couple gits oilers from McMaster Carr, thanks for the number / help.
 
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