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Spindle Oil

RandyHut

Plastic
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Location
Piqua, Ohio
I can't seem to find "Spindle Oil" anywhere locally. I am wondering if there are options? Any synthetic options?
What are people using if they can't find spindle oil locally?

My H10 had a heavy oil of some type in the cups when i got her.

Randy
 
+1

You can also use the ad he has on ebay to know the current names of the lubricants and then purchase the larger quantities, which I did. I think I was 65-70 bucks into it buying them all.
 
Universal Tractor Transmission Oil, UTTO. Works for anything metal that moves ;-)

Messy on open chains and gears though......
 
A guy that worked for my dad about 35 years ago bought a South Bend 9N model A during WWII. He had to agree to make an almost impossible part for the War Board before they would allow him to buy it. Anyway, he couldn't get the proper oil because of the war so he just used SAE 30 automotive oil. He ran that lathe 60-70 hours a week during the war and 20-40 hours a week for many years after. In 1979 he took his spindle out to inspect it and found no wear. So I decided that if SAE 30 was good enough for him, it was good enough for me. I have been using it in my South Bend model A since 1979 with no perceivable harm. He told me to add a couple of drops to the head stock cups every time I ran the lathe and that it would last one or two days short of for ever, give or take a couple of days.
 
Mobile Velocite #10 is generally regarded as the closest modern available equivalent to what South Bend originally spec'd. Matter of fact, if you type in "spindle oil" as a search term in your favorite online supply house (like McMaster-Carr), Mobile Velocite products are what come up. The smallest commercially available containers are one gallon (about 25 bucks), but you'll find eBay resellers that break it down into pints and quarts. Probably anything IS0 22 (SAE 5W) would work. The key is to use a non-detergent oil. You want any micro particles to wash out with the oil loss and not remain permanently entombed in oil suspension.
 
I think i see why someone may have put heavy oil in the spindle. The plate attached to the lathe says spindle oil of 100 viscosity. I filled my lathe with some light weight synthetic non detergent oil. I am going to watch it closely
for the next while and watch for heat, oil loss and wear.
 
That was 100 SSU, or Seconds Saybolt Universal. Its a whole lot thinner than the SAE scale. 100 SSU is somewhere around 10 SAE.

Its entirely possible it just got gummy from heat and age. Old oil does that. Either that or someone saw 100 and thought "hmm, this 90 weight gear oil is close enough". Hopefully not.
 
I think that is what happened to mine, old oil, setting in a garage for years, then when found, gear or heavy oil was added. Makes no difference now, i removed the spindle, cleaned, flushed all junk out, reassembled and added thin oil, every thing is smooth, clean and will now receive oil.
 
I was running mine with heating oil, probably as viscous at 20C, as Velocite #10 is at 100C.

So I just flushed it out, replaced it with a 50-50 mix of heating oil and 5w-30 synthetic motor oil.

50-50 mix of those two at 20C, gets me about the same viscosity as velocite #10 at 40C according to the nearest oil viscosity mix calculator I found, though its hard to know the viscosity of what I started with.
 
I don't know enough about detergent oils to comment much but a good portion of southbend lathes are wick oiled and a good portion of the oil exiting either side of the spindle drains back down into the sump beneath the wick. The wick filters the particles out.

Some have added top oilers to their lathes because they don't trust the wick to provide enough oil.
 
I started out my relationship with South Bend lathes using whatever oil my dad had in the oil can. It was usually 10W30 that he drained from the remaining oil in the fresh cans for the car. (Amazing how much oil will drain out overnight)

With my own lathes I continued that tradition but later went through all the correct oil for this and correct oil for that nonsense. Now, I'm back to using Mobil 1 0W20 in the spindle and other rotating bearings and way oil on the ways. The lathes seem perfectly happy regardless of what oil I put in so long as I continue to put some in.

The nice thing about automotive oil is that it comes in quart containers rather than 1 gallon jugs or 5 gallon pails like the Velocite products.
 
did I ever mention i hate Vactra "way" oil for cast on cast sliding surfaces without positive means of lubrication? :)

i also prefer BMW to HD...and,yes, Mary Ann.;)
 
I replied to another thread, but cant find it, to the effect i am running transmission fluid in my spindle. Its low viscosity green high torque cvt fluid from a 2015 subaru forester.. 7 cst at 100c. 35 cst at 40C, velocite 10 is 4 and 22cst respectively. I would recommend it but apparently its 300 to 400$ for 5 gallons.

Clearance is 1.5 thou and it hardly warms up at 1400 rpm. Its a 9 inch lathe btw.
 
Johansen,

Looks like that thread is going on a year old... I am curious, why run that cvt atf if it is so expensive? I usually pay less than $28 for a gallon of Velocite 10 from a local supplier. I had thought the fluid for cvt's contained a friction modifier, maybe a zddp type compound? Maybe I am wrong. Most atf is highly detergent and holds contaminants in suspension. Wouldn't it be better for the spindle oil to push contaminants away as it flows out of the bearing? I guess I would like to know more about your choice of spindle bearing lubricant. I am not sure if my understanding of the subject is accurate.

Thank you,

Marc
 
The only reason I use it is because a friend of mine gave it to me after draining it out of his car by mistake. I'm not an expert on the detergent issue but I'm not convinced it matters.
 








 
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