What's This Knob On The Apron?

[100LL]

Small knurled knob on the bottom of the rockwell 11" lathe.

It pulls out and spring returns. Seems to do nothing. Must be there for some reason though.

 

[David VanNorman]

I may be wrong but I believe that has something to do with the oil level in the apron.

 

[Tony Wells]

Many lathes have a pressurized oiling system for the ways. You pull out the knob and the springloaded piston pushes oil through small tubing to the lube points. With oil in the reservoir, it should not spring back immediately, but slowly as the oil is moved. With a dry reservoir, it will spring back quickly. It should be pulled out periodically during use of the machine.

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

will hope we find out I have one of those dohickeys as well

 

[4GSR]

So far from what I can find out, the Rockwell lathes do not have any kind of pressurized oiling in the apron. Does have a reservoir for oil to lubricate the gearing in the apron. At least that is how it is set up on the 14" Rockwell lathe I recently purchased. My Sheldon lathe has a knob that you pull out to lubricate the saddle. As for the dohickey, could be a drain plug?

 

[AaronD]

Pull it and hold open while putting oil into hole.

It is the access point to fill the apron reservoir.

Definitely clean out that apron assembly. Seems it is a collection point for junk.

 

[100LL]

Thank you gents. I think mystery solved. Ill be sure to run in oil....and clean it up.

 

[jjtgrinder]

There's a nice manual for the lathe on the Rockwell user group if you haven't found it already.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/RockwellLathe/files/Manuals for 10", 11", and 14" Lathes/Eleven/