Headstock bearing lube?

[kd4gij]

Well these old lathes don't have dust seals in the bearings. Oil will flush the crud out. That is why most machines even to day use oil. The grease will hold the fine stuff in and grind away at your bearings. But hay it is your lathe use grease if you chose.

 

[iron man]

Well these old lathes don't have dust seals in the bearings. Oil will flush the crud out. That is why most machines even to day use oil. The grease will hold the fine stuff in and grind away at your bearings. But hay it is your lathe use grease if you chose.

If you really read the post you would see I said dirt would be the biggest problem and if you could figure out a way to seal it up it would work. Never mind I give up..

 

[wa5cab]

This thread started with a simple question - is it OK to use grease instead of oil on the Atlas lathe headstock spindle bearings. The short answer is no. It's a bad idea.

You might be able to find seals that would fit both the existing headstock bore and the existing spindle diameters and convert the headstock from double shielded to double sealed bearings. If not, you could almost certainly find seals that fit the spindle and line bore the headstock to fit. But at the end of the day, the lathes will work no better and last no longer than they would when you started. Ifn it ain't broke, don't fix it.

As a side note, if you have a problem with the oil you put into the spindle bearing oil cups quickly ending up in your chip pan, your cups are missing their felt plugs. Call Clausing and order a pair.

Robert D.

 

[Kernbigo]

I used to rebuild high speed grinder spindles and the bearing manufactures would say the bearings would last 3-4 longer with oil than grease packed. In the first place most people pack to much grease in a bearing, should be 1/3 capacity of the bearing, other wise they will over heat.