C oil OK for ways?

twooldvolvos

twooldvolvos

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I have been learning to care for my new-to-me 10K tool room lathe and I've got a question about lubricants. Before I got my lathe set up I did some research and purchased some A, B, C, and way oil.
oilsForSouthBend.JPG
Now that my lathe is finally hooked up, I am ready to start squirting oil on it. I ran across this South Bend lubrication chart for my lathe.
southBendLubeChart.JPG
If you look closely, it says I should use "C" oil for the ways. I purchased a heavier oil labeled "WAYS" in the picture above. My thought is that either oil in my picture labelled "C" or "WAYS" will be fine but what do you think? Thanks for your input.
 
cathead said:
Vactra is especially formulated for sliding surfaces or ways. "C" looks to be hydraulic oil so not as good as the Vactra
for oiling ways.
Click to expand...
I am thinking that chart was made before way oil was developed.
I have the same chart, laminated hanging behind the lathe.
 
My 2 cents worth. Way oil was developed for heavy sliding machinery such as shapers and planers among others. Lathes even in a commercial setting are not subject to the same loads or speeds. I use a 46 weight hydraulic oil because it can be used for everything on the machines I own including garden tools and I have a drum of it, also because we don't have huge temperature fluctuations. A lighter oil has the advantage of not gluing debris to the ways. A light coat is all that is required when cleaning up.
 
Vactra #2 conforms to the ISO68 standard as do all others which are ISO68, it is a 20w oil that doesn't attack yellow metals like brass or bronze.

Mobil Vactra Oil Numbered Series

I use tractor oil from VP on my lathe for everything, it is a 20w oil that doesn't attack yellow metals and costs $30 for a 5 gal pail. It conforms to the obsolete John Deere J20A spec for hydraulic equipment. It's plenty good for my application.

VP Racing Fuels J20A Plus Utility Tractor Fluid, 5 gal., VP2040014 at Tractor Supply Co.

Reality is we're not pushing these machines hard in a hobby shop and they aren't running 16 hrs a day like in a production environment. When I was fixing up my Seneca Falls Star I bought some "special" oils but it felt kinda funny being particular about oil for a hundred year old lathe.

When I got my Bolton I did some research and decided to go with the cheapest 20w oil I could get from a reputable supplier that was designed for old gearboxes which have brass or bronze in them. I'm comfortable with my choice and am happy that I can change out the oil more frequently if I want. I also use it for general purpose lubricant since I don't want to have 12 different oil cans to keep track of. I used to be a VP racing fuel dealer so I'm pretty confident with their ability to formulate quality products.

My background? I built championship winning 4 stroke go kart motors that sold for thousands of dollars to racers around the world. So, I've seen what oil failures look like and know a little about how to prevent them. FWIW, my recommendation to racers was always to use the right amount of oil and change it frequently. Having it there and clean was way more important than the particular brand. I did see some failures related to switching between different types of synthetic oils and when I figured it out I started using Valvoline conventional 50w for dyno runs/break-in.

So, use whatever the manufacturer recommends but realize things may have changed in 50 or 100 years. One thing that hasn't changed though is manufacturers "recommending" specific products that they have a financial interest in. Why do you think my Cadillac has a "Mobil Synthetic 5w20" logo on the oil cap? Me thinks Mobil has been paying manufacturers to recommend their products for a long time.

JMHO, YMMV, etc, etc....


John
 
My carriage and tailstock are always parked at the right end of the ways at the end of the day. My routine for starting up is to wipe down the ways and spread some Rotella 15w40 directly on the ways. Choice of oil might not be very critical. As mentioned above it is more important that there be enough oil and that it be clean. I tend to oil more often than might be necessary to be sure nothing runs dry.
 
After running some tests between an ISO 68 way oil and ISO 68 straight hydraulic, I now lubricate my ways with the straight hydraulic oil. The reason is that the table on my mill slides more smoothly and with the way oil.
 
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