Gear Head Oil for Leblonde Lathe

J

Jecheon

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Registered
Hello All,

I was hoping to get advice on what the correct type of oil to uses in the gear head of my pre war 10 inch Leblonde Regal lathe is. In the manual it says use "a medium grade of machine or automobile oil" and then in a subsequent manual for a later Regal model says "SAE30". I've read that modern automotive oils are no longer suitable for lathes due to the detergents included in the blend so I was intending to use an ISO100 hydraulic oil instead. Is this the right choice, or would something else be more suitable? The lathe is probably 60 years old and in good condition; I don't want to be the one to destroy the bearings and gears through using the wrong oil type! Any comments welcomed.

I've attached a couple od photos of the lathe for interest.

Thanks

Pete

Picture 079.jpg Picture 075.jpg Picture 076.jpg Picture 077.jpg
 
Go on Exxon Mobil website or just call them and they will help you out, and it is free call. Any of the oil companies have this service. SAE 30 is still available but likely special order at most places.

Some people will say to use spindle oil such as Velocite Series for high speed spindles and others will state DTE Med/Heavy which also a spindle oil. I called for two pieces of equipment one Landis Universal grinder was told to use the Velocite, the other was a lathe with maximum rpm of 1400 , here he said to use DTE as the additive package in the Velocite was not needed for the slower lathe.

Pierre
 
I use Mobil DTE Med/Heavy which is a ISO 68 30 weight in my LeBlond. I get mine from ENCO. I also use it in my mills and it works great.

Paul
 
Thanks for the information Pierre/Paul,

Unfortunately I can't source Mobil DTE Medium/Heavy in anything less than 20L containers. I only use my lathe as a hobby (and not as often as I'd like) so it would take my about 50 years to use that volume.

Is anyone based in the UK who is willing to sell 3 or 4 litre of DTE Med/Heavy to me?

Alternately, if I where to buy 20L, is there anyone in the UK who would be interested in buying a volume of DTE from me (maybe in 4L lots)?

Pete
 
Hello Again,

I sourced a similar oil from a UK based blending company called Smith and Allen. There technical department recommend one of two blends, both of which have similar additive packages to the DTE. They are T68 and LP68; I bought the former and will let you know how it performs (hopefully with out incident).

Thanks for your advice.

Pete
 
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