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- Dec 18, 2022
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It was what became Lucas, had another name previously.
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Gear oil.
- Thread starter todd281
- Start date
You can still get that stuff, these guys called it, it's Lucas oil stabilizer.
It does have some use cases, but it is snake oil. That display looked great, but if you watch it, even though it was less volume, the "regular" oil still climbed right to the top, and squeezed out. And cranked a heckuva lot easier.
What gearbox are you talking about? I wouldn't want it for just spur/helical gears. It doesn't hurt anything (I don't think), but it wastes energy and heats more than a typical oil for that would. One of it's (many) drawbacks is it foams bad if any speed is involved. It's great for high torque, slow to moderate speed worm drives....
Here is a 1966 (or1968) Bridgeport manual, including your power feed. It says fill with medium machine oil.
It’s not a real high speed deal. I have one with all the gears robbed out.
It’s not a real high speed deal. I have one with all the gears robbed out.
Sorry, I flat out missed this post when I replied before.
The Lucas Oil stabilizer is an additive, not an oil. It makes stuff sticky, not free moving. It does contain some "boundry layer' lubrication additives, but mostly it's just a thickener go get your oil pressure gauge to go up. Most people warm it up to even get it out of the bottle. It's consistancy is about the same as a honey jar that was left in the refrigerator. That's not really what you want in a situation like that. You want this stuff to move freely.
"Gear oil" that H&W recommended would be a better chioce, although I try to stay out of automotive chemicals, AND anything that requires heat to activate or utilize it's add pack, and/or to facilitate the moisture management. Plus they're designed to have a drain interval, so volitility of any part of it is a problem (among other things) that means it's going to need to be changed more often.
I'd recommend a dedicated gear box oil (vs "SAE Gear Oil), but that's probably not gonna be available. Pretty close to that is an AW oil, AW 32 through 100 would fit well if there's no actual viscosity recommended for the "gear oil". ISO 32 to ISO 100 is kinda sorta SAE 15W through 30W in crankcase ratings, or SAE 75W through 85W in SAE gear oil ratings. They're all right in that range for "thickness", and they'll all climb gears. Iso 10 will climb gears, even though it looks and feels like water. Not recommending t hat, just saying that they ALL climb gears. All that stuff you see in the displays "blobbed" on the gears is not helping them. What helps is the film (molecular level stuff, nothing's hydrodynamic at the se speeds), the film that's left after the rest of it is squeezed out, that's what's lubricating your gears.
The other thing that the Lucas does which you don't want, as an additive or a stand alone, it doesn't "creep". It makes it very difficlut for the oil to find it's way into bushings, bearings, sleeves, collars, and any place there's a "plain bearing" type rotation of one part within another, it builds up on the edge and won't "flow" in.
Honestly, it's a really fancy display, and a powerful visual image, but it's not really how oil works. I think that while this stuff has it's place on occasion, in this case I think it's the opposite direction from what you want to go, to do what you want to do.
Thanks for all the replies. I found two quarts of the Lucas oil stabilizer stashed in my shop. However, after reading the posts here, I have decided not to use it in the gearbox. I have some ISO68 oil here that I use in my lathe. Any opinions on using it? Please note that the gears in this gearbox rotate horizontally. Their center shaft is mounted vertically. [they spin in the same manner and direction, as lawn mower blade] The lowest may be submerged in the oil bath, but the others are well above it. I am unsure of how they were to get lubricated. Thus, I thought of the Lucas display. The only shaft that rotates horizontally is the motor output shaft. it has a small worm gear that is submerged [I think] perhaps it slings the oil up onto the upper gears.
Thanks for the link. My Mill is an older model, round ram. I saved the file, it looks like the same power-feed as mine.
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2022
- Messages
- 2,843
I put about an ounce of Lucas in my gear box, it doesn't have ash nor other chemicals that will cause it to turn into gum nor sludge and I typically do not use additives, but I wanted something that would better the chances that there would be a film on the gears even after a few days of non-use and that is actually what the stuff does.
Gordhead guys throw some rocks, it appears to be doing what I wanted it to do.
The term “snake oil” comes from the 19th-century Chinese railroad workers who used medicine made from the Chinese water snake that was rich in Omega 3 acids and very effective for treating arthritis and bursitis. They shared it with their American counterparts who were amazed at its healing process. However, the term was later used to describe fraudulent health products that were sold in the United States and Europe. It has been suggested that the use of snake oil in the United States may have originated with Chinese railway laborers in the mid-19th century.
