Oil On The Pulleys At The Head

[vincent52100]

I made some bushings to replace the worn out ones where the motor assy connects to the lathe. I noticed there was oil on the pulleys. I checked the oil port on the center and it doesn't appear to be coming from there. On the right side there was oil on the outside ridge of the pulley. Also there is approx .071 back and forth motion on the pulley. Am I looking at some repairs? Thanks

 

[Rex Walters]

Roughly 1/16" of axial play on the cone pulley and bull gear doesn't seem excessive to me (but there are others here far more knowledgeable than myself). The cone pulley has to be able to spin freely when it isn't locked to the bull gear, of course, in order to use your back gears. If the oil appears to be coming from between the cone pulley and the bull gear, then someone likely over-oiled. The oil port (screw) just lets you apply oil directly to the spindle shaft – it can definitely seep axially along the spindle.

I'd just wipe up the excess and not worry about it as long as you are talking about axial play (along the spindle axis) and not radial play (too loose a fit on the spindle).

I'm unclear what bushings you replaced, though. Are you talking about the oilite bearings between the cone pulley assembly and the spindle in the headstock, or the bushings on the drive assembly shaft? That is, did you replace something inside the headstock casting, or something on the rotating shaft that the motor belt attaches to?
--
Rex

 

[vincent52100]

Thanks for the info! Load off my mind. The bushings were just the ones where the pegleg assembly attaches to the back of the lathe. The ones in it were worn to the point where the flat belt was running at an angle.

 

[gjmontll]

I too had a problem with oil on the spindle pulleys. I attributed it to centrifugal force causing leakage back up through the threads on the "Oil" setscrew. So I put a bit of Teflon pipe tape on the setscrew. Problem solved.

 

[Wobbles]

Remember, there was no such thing as an o-ring when these lathes were new. You may wish to add a small counterbore to the screw area and add a "sealing-head" o-ring screw.

See... http://www.mcmaster.com/#o-ring-screws/=yll43l

 

[chips&more]

If no oil is coming from the oil port, then I would not bother fixing something that ain’t broke. That oil is only needed when in back gear and to keep the parts happy and from rust. Maybe a little thicker oil would make it stay in place. And maybe excessive wear/play in the cone pulley bushings will tend to not hold the oil as well. You might want to check those bushings for fit. Or maybe it had too much oil…Good Luck, Dave.