Gits oilers: what size for 16" lathe

Hey guys, I need some new gits oilers for my 1944 south bend 16" lathe. I emailed SBLatheman about this and he has some but I'm gonna need more oilers than I originally thought but does anyone know what size oilers this needs? I am in need of the two spindle oilers. I took two grease zerks off and didn't measure the threads and my lathe is in my shop and that is 30 minutes from where I live. I also need to replace some of the oilers that are on the qcgb. Some of the lids for the cups are missing. Is there someplace that has the size of threads that they are? Gits mfg is actually in my area so I will be making a trip to see them but I'm guessing they won't know what I need. Hope you guys can help. Thanks.

Hey guys,
I did some checking on the threads for the spindle oilers for my 16" SBL. I keep getting more confused as I go on. My spindle had zerks on it. Someone along the way put those on and did in fact use grease. That is another problem I am currently dealing with. I took the zerks off and am having trouble locating new replacement oil cups. I measured the major diameter of the threads of the zerk I took off and I got .390. I'm thinking in my head it would likely be a 3/8" diameter but I'm not finding anything on gits' website or McMaster-Carr. I used my thread gauge and there are 27 threads per inch. Does anyone know where I can find these? Also, the two oil cups on the apron where you oil and one of them goes to lube the half nuts, I need to replace that oiler because the old one was crushed. When I took it out it is about 2.5 inches long. It is a press fit oiler, I haven't seen anything like this anywhere. These damn oilers are driving me nuts. A lot of springs are broke or the caps are missing on the rest of the machine but those are 1/4" press fits, no big deal, I am really struggling to track down the others I need. Please help!

According to the South Bend CE3458 parts manual the part number is 155X42 for the 16" spindle oiler. 155X42 cross references to GITS part number 803 per South Bend form 1178 "Commercially Available Hardware Items." This one: Style Y Elbow | GITS Manufacturing. Scroll down to Item 00803. Verify your thread is 1/8- 27 NPT.

FWIW, older GITS oilers were manufactured from milled brass bar stock and stamped brass and then "bright" plated.

GITS revised most of its line to include "precision formed" steel, thereby eliminating many manufacturing steps, and, of course, substituting lower-cost steel for brass.

While the new oilers are form-fit-function for the old, these are not historically accurate.

Whenever I work on a machine which is intended to be historically accurate, I always attempt to retain the original oilers, for which I have made a number of special extractors for the press-in oilers.

For my personal machines, I save the historical oilers and replace these with "precision formed" ones.

Note that a number of products are made with the "drive fit" version of the GITS oilers, and these can be very difficult to replace.

Arch Stanton said:

According to the South Bend CE3458 parts manual the part number is 155X42 for the 16" spindle oiler. 155X42 cross references to GITS part number 803 per South Bend form 1178 "Commercially Available Hardware Items." This one: Style Y Elbow | GITS Manufacturing. Scroll down to Item 00803. Verify your thread is 1/8- 27 NPT.

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This is what I'm not understanding. That is what I have been getting that the 1/8-27 NPT is the threads that I need but it isn't making sense to me because when I took out the grease zerk that was in it, those threads measured .390 in diameter so wouldn't the threads I need for a new oiler be 25/64-27? That seems like a real oddball size, and I don't know that much about pipe threads but this doesn't sound right does it?
Then I was thinking that the PO must've drilled and re-tapped the holes to accept the zerk they put in it. I was PM'ing a gentleman last night and he also has a 16" south bend and he took his oiler out and his measured .390 also. What does this mean? Thanks.
Andy

ajk2004 said:

his measured .390 also. What does this mean?

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It means that nominal pipe sizes refer to the ID, not the OD. The nominal OD of 1/8" pipe is 0.405", and the recommended tap drill for 1/8-27NPT is 0.339". The major diameter of the (tapered) threads will therefore lie between 0.339" and 0.405". 0.390" sounds good to me.

so the size I need is 1/8-27 NPT for my gits oiler? Whew, I should've just looked at a pipe thread chart. I just started into machining and am just learning the UNC threads and I guess the NPT is a little different. Thanks for the help. I certainly appreciate it.
Andy