Felt wicks again

cdhknives

cdhknives

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In al my searching I have yet to find a definitive answer to this...what do I need to look for in felt material to replace the wicks in my Atlas QC-54? I see reference to 'this is too hard' and such...but is it really critical so long as it will soak up oil?

Right now there are no wicks at all in the spindle bearing oilers, so I just add a squirt of oil every 10 minutes of operation or so and it promptly runs down the sides of the headstock...hopefully leaving enough film to keep things lubed.

The L wicks on the ways are rock hard, so I just keep the ways visibly wet with way oil.

I'm not doing much but learning the basics a half hour at a time so it isn't running long hours at the moment...but I hope that will change as I get more into turning and I don't want to burn up bearings.
 
Good question and I hope you get an answer,cause I'm in the same boat except the felt is MIA on my lathe.I see that one sheet is not cheap of the F5 which says is for wipers---kroll
 
The way felts listed on eBay work fine. They have also offered a kit with several felts and a small squeeze bottle of way oil. Which is what I actually bought as at the time I did not have an oil can that worked worth a d**n in that application. However, they don't have the rubber wipers available. You can still buy both the felts and the wipers from Clausing. As well as the felts for the spindle bearing oilers.

Of course you can buy felt sheets in the more or less proper hardness from places like McMaster. But you will end up with enough felt to make parts for everyone on this list and the Yahoo one. :) And you will find that it takes a very sharp tool to cleanly cut felt.

Robert D.
 
Any reason not to use wicks/felts from South Bend Heavy 10 on an Atlas 618? I have spare, and the guy removed the ones from certain places for some reason


Bernie
 
Not if they are about the same size. Stacking two or more to get the right thickness is OK, too.

BTW, Before installing new, one should always oil a felt that is installed like the Atlas way felts (i.e., held on by a sheet metal cover). Dry felts do not compress very easily and you could bend the sheet metal. This does not apply to the felts in the spindle bearing oilers.

Also, Atlas way oilers all originally had rubber wipers the same shape as the felt located between the cover and the felt. They keep chips from getting stuck in the felt. Especially important if you do any grinding. I've had the suspicion that many older lathes no longer have them present. The ones that Clausing currently sells are 1/8" thick. Before installing, I would nibble away the top edge that otherwise is going to half block the oil hole. The smallest size Xcelite end cutters are good for doing this.

Robert D.
 
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