MichaelP
Titanium
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2008
- Location
- IL/WI border
Oil leaking from the gearbox- Monarch Ser.60
I'm losing gearbox oil too fast. I found it's leaking along the upper edge of the left pedestal side door down to the floor. I could see no other spots.
I opened the left cover of the gearbox to expose the end gears, oil sump and the pump. I examined all visible point of lubrication when the pump was on, but couldn't see any unusual splashing of oil that could end up outside of the sump.
Then I removed the pump and the sump and found oil accumulation in the space under the gearbox floor (between the floor and the top of the pedestal). I suspected that the junction between the sump and the body could be the area that might allow oil to leak, so I used a liquid gasket material on the interface. It didn't help. If I remember correctly, I checked if the oil would leak when the lathe was not powered, and it did.
I spoke to Steve from Monarch, and he said that he never heard of such problem. Since I never removed the gearbox, I don't know if it has anything on the floor that can leak. Steve could think of only two potential places there: the screwed down bottom plate and seals of the shaft that holds the knob on the lower front of the gearbox. But he considered it not very likely. As far as I can see, checking them would require removal of the gearbox that I've never done before.
Do you have any idea of where such leak can come from and how hard it would be to remove the gearbox and inspect those two areas? I browsed through Harry's threads, but couldn't find any description of gearbox removal.
Any other ways you'd approach this problem? I still hope that fixing the problem won't require any monumental job. But just adding oil doesn't seem to be reasonable any longer. I'd, probably, need to do it twice a month, roughly.
As far as I know removing the front cover that has the feed table and dial will not allow a good visualization and access to the gearbox floor.
Thank you.
Mike
I'm losing gearbox oil too fast. I found it's leaking along the upper edge of the left pedestal side door down to the floor. I could see no other spots.
I opened the left cover of the gearbox to expose the end gears, oil sump and the pump. I examined all visible point of lubrication when the pump was on, but couldn't see any unusual splashing of oil that could end up outside of the sump.
Then I removed the pump and the sump and found oil accumulation in the space under the gearbox floor (between the floor and the top of the pedestal). I suspected that the junction between the sump and the body could be the area that might allow oil to leak, so I used a liquid gasket material on the interface. It didn't help. If I remember correctly, I checked if the oil would leak when the lathe was not powered, and it did.
I spoke to Steve from Monarch, and he said that he never heard of such problem. Since I never removed the gearbox, I don't know if it has anything on the floor that can leak. Steve could think of only two potential places there: the screwed down bottom plate and seals of the shaft that holds the knob on the lower front of the gearbox. But he considered it not very likely. As far as I can see, checking them would require removal of the gearbox that I've never done before.
Do you have any idea of where such leak can come from and how hard it would be to remove the gearbox and inspect those two areas? I browsed through Harry's threads, but couldn't find any description of gearbox removal.
Any other ways you'd approach this problem? I still hope that fixing the problem won't require any monumental job. But just adding oil doesn't seem to be reasonable any longer. I'd, probably, need to do it twice a month, roughly.
As far as I know removing the front cover that has the feed table and dial will not allow a good visualization and access to the gearbox floor.
Thank you.
Mike
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