atlas spindle bearing oil cups

A

aforsman

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I am restoring an Atlas TH54 and have questions about the oil cups that sit on top of each spindle bearing. I've read somewhere that there is supposed to be a piece of felt or something that allows oil to slowly drip into the bearings. If that's the case, then I don't have them - I can see straight through the hole to the bearing race on both of them. Where can I get replacements or what can I substitute? Also, are they really even necessary as long as the bearings are oiled every time the machine is used? Any advice would be appreciated.

Allen
 
I assume that your lathe has little oil cups similar to the ones on my Logan. I normally put a couple of drops of oil in each cup once every hour or two of running time, and I always have a little oil to wipe off when I'm done. Rarely does it drip off though, so I don't think I am overdoing it. As for felt in the cup, I cannot say that I have even seen felt in the little oil cups like my lathe has, but some of the larger oilers (hold several ounces of oil or more) use a wick.
 
My 10F24 had those cups. Had no felt while I had the lathe. Whether they had from the factory, I do not know. I added oil at the start and cleaned up the oil off the bench at the end.
Pierre
 
My th54 with the timken bearings does not have felt. I've only seen felt in motors that have bushings.
 
Neither of the Atlas lathes I've had came with felts, all the bearings were fine.

The bearing dust covers seen to retain just enough oil to cover the bottom of the outer race, which helps.

Because some gritty sludge was present in the bottom of the pool of oil I just use a small piece of felt in the cups to act as a filter, those chips get everywhere!

Bernard


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Hey Wormie, I gottcha beat, the old man said; "boy see this-use it" so I turned into an oil can freak by habit. If I dont use a quart a day Im not
working. The mess? he use to say "soap & water washes anything but a dirty mouth" I'm thinking nice brass glass drip oilers "yes"
 
Thanks to all for the info. Once I get it running I will just add a few drops when I use it. I plan on posting pics of the final project when it's all done.
 
I think you are fine without them- I really think most machines with felts have sleeve bearings, not roller bearings. These bearings "wick" the oil off of the surface of the felts, which are in direct contact, and gravity feed is just used to keep the felt loaded.

In the case of oilers over roller bearings, a lighter, more porous felt IN NO CONTACT to any bearing surface, will allow gravity to slowly drip-feed.

I think as long as you don't put anything that will disintegrate into the cups, you can put any felt in there, and just watch to see that by the end of the day the oil level is just a little lower. As was mentioned above, it doesn't require much oil per hour.

Bernie
 
Before you first fire it up, load it up with more than just a few drops of oil. I would dump 20 drops worth in the first time. After that a 3-4 drops/hour of use should be fine. I use 20 weight motor oil.

aforsman said:
Thanks to all for the info. Once I get it running I will just add a few drops when I use it. I plan on posting pics of the final project when it's all done.
Click to expand...
 
Is 20W50 OK? I can't recall that I've ever seen straight 20 weight oil.
 
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