Enco Step Pulley mill Question

[cathead]

Hello everybody. I have a step pulley 9 x 42 Enco mill and it has 2 brass oiler cups on the head. There have been several posts about spindle oil
so I took the top off the head to see which oiler was for the spindle. Naturally one would think the top one would be for the spindle but the
oiler tube goes into a plate and I can see a gear under there. That oiler obviously oils that gear but I am wondering if it oils the spindle as well.
The lower cup apparently oils the ram. The mill is Enco model 100-1527 and was manufactured in 1990. I suppose it could have sealed bearings
but I didn't want to take the head apart just to find out. This whole thing came about in trying to know which oiler was which and
what oil do I need to use. My guess is that it has sealed bearings and that being the case, some 30 weight nondetergent
oil would do just fine for the gear and ram. Any thoughts on this?

thanks, Cathead

 

[marrtw]

I just had my mill's head apart. I'm pretty sure it's the same mill you have (mine's an "MSC" though). Grizzly still sells the same mill and you can get parts and a manual from them. http://www.grizzly.com/products/9-x-42-Vertical-Mill-w-Power-Feed/G9901

You are correct that the top cup oils the spindle. In fact, this cup oils several other bearings in the head as well. Also, none of the bearings in my head were sealed. This is the reason I had the head apart. Chips had found their way into the head and damaged some of the bearings.

Here's a pic showing the bearing I replaced. There's a channel under the large gear that allows oil to (eventually) seep down into the spindle bearings.

 

[cathead]

Thanks MARRTW for the reply. The photo looks just like my mill! I didn't pull the electric motor off, just the aluminum cover on the front top.
I can't see how the spindle oiler (top one) could possibly oil the bearing you had to replace. At any rate, I cleaned up inside the head there
and gave it a good looking over and put it back together this morning. I may have a manual somewhere but so far have not found it.
I was not able to really see the gear and what is under the cover as that was not removable without more disassembly. So the top oiler
oils the gear and then dribbles down into the spindle? So if that is the case, i need to get some spindle oil and take better care of my machine...
Good grief, I have run it for over 20 years and sort of casually oiled the top oiler with what ever oil that was in my oil can at the time. It has worked flawlessly for many years so have NO complaints on the quality of the Enco Mill. I run it almost every day.

 

[marrtw]

So the top oiler oils the gear and then dribbles down into the spindle?

Correct. I found a picture of what it looks like under that gear. Notice the slot I've circled. The oil drains down through the slot to the two bearings that are (some what) visible in the photo. It then works it's way down to a foam filter that's over the spindle bearings...then to the spindle bearings themselves. I suggest you use ISO 68 oil.

Here's a link to a manual that should work for you: http://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g9901_m.pdf

Tom

 

[cathead]

OK, Great information! I am reading the Grizzly information and that will answer all my questions.

T H A N K S ! ! !

 

[marrtw]

You're quite welcome.