Finally Need Parts for my 1340GT

wrmiller

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Mar 21, 2013
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It's been a good lathe for 6 years now. But a few years ago I started to see oil on the chip pan. Especially in the really hot summer months. The rest of the year was fine. Never paid much attention to it and just kept an eye on the oil level in the headstock and would add a splash or two when necessary. I think this mindset came about during my CH53-D days when we only worried about the aircraft when she WASN'T leaking oil, because that meant that she was dry and going to crash. :oops:

But this year it's getting worse. So I tracked the oil leak down to a seal behind the large pulley on the headstock. I cleaned up the seal edges and the shaft itself (factory paint was still on some things it shouldn't have been on...) and re-installed the seal holder (which was a bit loose during initial disassembly by the way). Now it's barely a trickle. But, I may be selling my machines soon so I thought to replace the seal. So I called PM.

I explained the situation, and told him what page in the manual to find the seal and part number. He told me several times that that part number didn't exist. I then asked if he was looking at the latest manual from the website. I have one manual from '17 I think, and another one from '21. I was using the latest one.

I was then asked for the seal's dimensions. I said that I didn't know, and he couldn't tell me what they were. He then told me I shouldn't order from the factory and that I should order it from somewhere here in the States. I made a comment about how a while back it was advertised that PM was going to stock parts for their machines. But apparently, that hasn't happened yet, and according to the guy I was talking to, may not happen for a while. There are a lot of parts in this lathe...

Anyway, he told me that he was going to try to get me the dimensions for the seal in the next few days. If that happens, I'll just order one on ebay. I did see on Matt's website that he is now selling oil for the lathe. I'm going to need some ISO 68 when I replace that seal, and Matt's prices are better than what I see for Mobil on ebay.

After 6 years my lathe finally needed a part. I'm happy that it's a inexpensive part. :)
 
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Can you snap a picture of the seal? I've got a slow leak of oil from the headstock and that sounds like a good place to start looking.
 
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It's the shaft on the left.
 
There should be numbers stamped on the seal, if you can read them, you may be able to cross reference it at an industrial bearing store.
 
I know this, thanks. I just thought that I'd go the 'easy' route and order a replacement part from PM. If that doesn't work, I'll get a cheap digital caliper that measures metric and do this myself.
 
Do you have a bearing supply place near you? If so, you could take the seal there and
see if they can match it.
 
Let us know what you find for a part number, I'm all for having spare parts. I also have spare cross slide and compound leadscrews and matching nuts, and gibs because of the suggestion here. Seals, and bearings may be next to have on hand, If someone has already done it, that would be good information. :encourage:
 
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There is a Motion Industries outlet 2 blocks from my shop. If they don't have it in stock they have it the next day.
 
The guys at PM are great guys. In the future if you are looking for oil seals (lip seals), they are listed by shaft diameter (seal I.D.), bore diameter (seal O.D.), and then width (thickness). Most metric seals have the numbers molded on the face of the seal. McMaster Carr has a good selection and is also good for a size reference if you are buying them else ware. You just have to match the style and compound type from there. Most of the oil seals that you will see are single lip Buna-N, so that is usually a safe bet unless it's a special situation.
 
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