Draining Gearhead Oil - Jet 1340 Lathe

Bib Overalls

Bib Overalls

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My new to me Jet 1340 lathe came with some rather nasty looking oil. UPS delivered two gallons of Mobile Heavy/Medium ISO 68 circulating oil today (Zoro Tools, $31 per gallon with free shipping over $50). I have figured how to get the new oil in but I am not up to speed on getting the old oil out. Looks like you remove a small bolt or plug on the end of the lathe. Looks like a mega mess waiting to happen. Does anybody know of a trick or technique for getting the old lube out and in a bucket without getting most of it on the floor?
 
The main gear unit on my little Maho is like that (pretty small machine, but holds about a gallon). I put down a bunch of blotter pads, got a piece of hose (heater hose?), pulled the plug and held the hose on as best I could. I was able to catch about 80% of the oil and the blotters caught the rest. I doubt I'll change the oil more often than once every 10 years - for that sort of frequency I didn't see the merit in working out a fancy solution.

Since you have a lathe, could you make up a fitting to go where the plug/bolt is with a hose connection? There will be a small spill when you swap the fitting in. Would that be in a place that would be difficult to clean up?
 
Sucking out the oil is an idea but 50 bucks and shipping for something I will do once (I'm 73) is a bit pricy. I may try a syphon.

Thought about making a fitting but I would have to remove the plug to get the correct thread which seems to be self defeating.

Hoping someone here knows the trick.
 
I can't remember all the details, but I bent a scrap piece of thin sheet metal into a trough, taped it to the headstock, and directed it to a shallow drain pan in the chip pan. Rube Goldberg job, but did not spill a drop! Edit: that was on a Kent 13x40
 
Clean the immediate area of the drain hole and use some modeling clay to form a "spout" to get the actual srip area away from the headstock box. Should be able to dump into a funnel. For next time, if you want, it's probably just NPT, so you could just put an appropriate length nipple in and cap the end. All you need it to get it away from the box so it doesn't run all over.

If you have a little time but no clay, you can use RTV silicone to do more or less the same thing, just harder to get much length.
 
Some of the chinese products come with metric thread, I'm dealing with that issue trying to change the drain plug on my HF degreaser tub into a valve. Take the plug with you to wherever you go for the nipple. We have Jets at skool but my previous boss had a company come in, before my time, to change the oil. With the lack of use on them I don't see me changing it out soon.
 
Find one of those little cheap drill pumps and siphon it out. I've seen those at HF for 5.99.
 
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