Need help

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Monarch model K18. Just got this machine. The manual calls for 3 and 1/4 gallons of Mobil vactra heavy medium. I filled the recommended amount and noticed that it started dripping out of a hole just under the chuck. Does anyone know what is supposed to plug this hole? I felt for threads with my pick but couldn't feel any so I plugged it with a piece of aluminum. Any and all help appreciated.
 
How much of a leak? Most machine tools drip a little in normal use.

Also, are you sure it was empty? You might just be seeing overflow.

Monarch experts will be by soon but please post more pics.

Congrats, they’re nice lathes….

John
 
Probably means a seal needs replacing. Just what you wanted to hear, right?
 
Check the SIGHT ;) glass and run it unless you have reason to suspect something else is wrong. If it's overfilled the drip will slow down when the oil is at the correct level. If it's way overfilled you may want to drain and refill with the proper amount of oil, don't know if it will damage your machine but oil is cheap....

John
 
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That hole isn't supposed to be plugged. It's the drain for oil that gets past the front of the labyrinth seal. If this happened without the spindle running then the oil is definitely over filled.

Here's a cross-section of a newer 10EE headstock:
202268 front bearing detail 3.jpg
I assume that larger lathes are similar. The horizontal red line is the oil level. For oil to reach the drain hole (diagonal red line), it has to get above the top of the front bearing retainer (EE-1128, magenta).

Sight glasses can get stained so that the oil level never appears to change, resulting in over filling. I would drain the headstock and clean the sight glass.
 
Thanks everyone for your inputs. I truly appreciate it. I'm going to drain it.

Just got the machine and changing the headstock oil was one of the first things I wanted to do. When I drained the old oil, only 1.5 gallons came out. So I was super excited to put the new in. Not sure how I could have overfilled with the manual calling for 3 and 1/4 gallons. I didn't flush with kerosene because I didn't want to have to take the headstock cover off and soak up the remaining kero down in the bottom wells. Maybe that's what needs to be done... I don't know
 
Could be it'll just keep leaking out until it's at the right level. I doubt Monarch would have done anything that could cause damage from overfilling, these things were built for production environments after all....

John
 
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