Change gear grease

L

LeChuck

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Sep 27, 2020
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Hi folks,

Can anyone recommend a good, readily available grease for the external change gears on the 1236T?

Something that works well (and more than a few minutes!) and doesn't sling all over.

I had tried a red CV grease in the past on another lathe, and that stuff doesn't stick at all. Ends up everywhere but on the gears, including any drive belt. I have some grey Ford moly grease. Not sure if that's appropriate for this use. I have been using, as I saw that recommended elsewhere, some Motul motorcycle chain lube, but I really don't like that. It just seems to turn to glue quickly and needs to be renewed constantly.

Regarding the internal change gears, without adding a pump, do people just try to spray some oil from the bottom to hit the gears on the left side? What a pain.
 
I have never used grease in any form on change gears, only a few occasional drops of machine or way oil; the loads on change gears are quite light and the speeds relatively low, and little lubrication is needed. so far as the internal change gears are concerned, they seem to get enough oil from the regular oiling points.
 
I haven't tried the way oil on there. I believe the manual recommends grease. But maybe the oil will be better than the chain lube, and keep them quiet longer. Will try that next.

It doesn't seem that the right side oiling port on the internal gears allow for good oiling for the gears on the left, but maybe I'm wrong. I've just been squirting oil from below, but that just makes a mess and is pretty wasteful.
 
If you feel the need there is open pinion gear grease in an aerosol can. it will bubble, and splatter on application, then dry. It will not come off of you, or any clothes it gets on.
 
Yeah, I want to avoid anything that really makes a mess. The chain lube seems fine at first, but it quickly turns into some very tacky stuff that doesn't seem right.
 
The loads on change gears are usually pretty light until you get into the really coarse thread pitches then the forces do go up
-M
 
If you ever need to exchange the change gears, you do not want anything messy, to be sure; I use nothing but a small amount of oil.
 
OK, thank you. I'll just try the oil and see how it goes. I have my gears setup for metric threading because that's the most likely for me, but am not threading yet, and am just setup for the next to slowest feed rate.
 
As for the Norton gearbox, several of us have implemented a single-shot oiler system. Here is my version:

flic.kr

Single-Shot Oiler for PM1340 Lathe

I decided to replace the factory supplied oil distribution drip tray. Click on photo for descriptions.
flic.kr flic.kr

Search the archives for other examples.
 
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