Taper Roller Bearing Lubrication - Oil or Grease?

E

ehamady

Active User
Registered
Joined
Jun 13, 2014
Messages
34
I'm converting to taper roller bearings in my 7x14 mini lathe. I was just about to lube the first one with moly grease before pressing it on the spindle, but I thought I'd better do some research first because I don't want to remove the spindle again so soon. I'm seeing that some like to lube the bearings with oil and others prefer grease. I don't have any oil ports for the bearings so maybe that means I have to use grease.

Oil or grease?
 
Whilst you have it all apart I would make oil ports for it
There is a reason that every lathe I am aware of, (disclaimer, I dont profess to know them all, and I am sure someone will point a brand out :whiteflag: ), has greased spindle bearings

Cheers Phil
 
Last edited:
Some are set up for oil and some for grease. Mine is set up for grease and has Zerk fittings on each side of the spindle. Manufacturer says to add grease every 8 hours of use.

For the taper bearings on mine (30702) most of same bearing are used as wheel bearings on cars. Mine uses the P5 precision version of that bearing.

For cars it is not needed to add grease regularly so not sure whether you would need access to add grease or not. Probably pack it like a wheel bearing with grease and go with that.
 
Not sure how to add fittings that would direct grease into the bearings. I'll look into sealed angular bearings.
 
Last edited:
Don't use grease in a spindle on a lathe, replace the zerk's with oil cups,grease will attract grit, and with oil the bearings will run 3-4 time longer, and also run cooler
 
angular contact and taper roller bearing are entirely different type bearing.
 
Kernbigo said:
Don't use grease in a spindle on a lathe, replace the zerk's with oil cups,grease will attract grit, and with oil the bearings will run 3-4 time longer, and also run cooler
Click to expand...


Not to be contrary but it is best to do what the lathe was set up for by the manufacturer. Mine is a Wabeco D6000E, German made and a highly precise tool. I contacted the manufacturer to be absolutely sure about the oil vs grease issue. My Bridgeport like many has Zerks for OIL and not grease for the ways. The Wabeco lathe head is made for taper bearings and a grease system.

Just pumping in oil or grease is one thing, dealing with getting it where it needs to be and containing it is another thing. (And the specific machine is engineered to do that.) I would think just taking out grease Zerks engineered for grease and putting oil in there would just let the oil leak out the bottom and you would be dry quickly.

The OP asked about and aftermarket upgrade where there were no taper bearings to start with. For home hobby use I would think a good packing of grease would be fine and maybe pull off the covers every season or half season and add more grease.

Also for taper bearings the standard ones are made for durability and adequate precision. The high precision versions usually are marked with P5 or some suffix to indicate they are the precision versions like for a lathe and not a car tire. $10 versus $100 for precision bearings. For an upgrade from bushings even the standard bearings you can go pick up at the auto parts store are a vast improvement.

If you want to just pick up bearings locally one tip is to look up what you need by size first. Get the number it is manufactured under. Put that number in ebay and see which car comes up and what it is for. Then go to the auto parts place and order the part for that car. I was turned away from an auto store once for a bearing project because they said they didn't have the bearing number. But when I was able to see what car it was for they had it.
 
Thanks everyone! I'm going to try a set of sealed angular contact bearings and a set of taper roller bearings and see which performs best. Now I'll research the preloads for each type. When I run the taper bearings I'll pack them with grease and try to monitor them after each session. I'll report the results.
 
Last edited:
All of the mini-lathes I know of (7x, 8x ) run a dry head which means you run grease in the spindle bearings. the head is not designed to hold oil. I put tapered rollers in my 7x16 and ran grease in the bearings. Worked fine.

When I upgraded to angular contact bearings on my mill's spindle, I bought this high rpm grease that I read about somewhere on here or at g0704.com. If I remember tomorrow, I'll go dig it up and post the name.

Bill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top