Spindle Oil Cup & Air Bubbles

I first noticed an oil-level change in the spindle oil cup near the chuck on my SB Heavy 10" lathe. Now that I have removed a little bit of the oil so it doesnt overflow while running I notice now that the level change is due to air bubbles rising up in the cup. I adjusted my shims lately and this is when I noticed these issues. Can't say if this occured before I messed with the shims becuase i did not look this carefully at things. Could something I did when changing shims have affected air vents or something? I did not remove the spindle so my wicks should not have been disturbed. My spindle runs real cool too. What can I do to be sure air vents (if any) are clear? Would I damage anything if I continued to run the lathe without correcting this? Thanks for your responses.

As long as the spindle is cool you should be ok, that's the main thing to watch for, heat. In fact I think heat would show before noise or power loose if it was not oiling. By all means watch for noise or power loose still but heat will be the indicator of problems.

I don't know if there is air vents but it may just be possible it got air in the system when you had it apart. Or there could have been air trapped somewhere and you working on it just helped it work its way to the top. It should clear out and quit bubbling pretty quick though (few hours at worst). May even take a couple runs though before it clears out.


Now if it keeps doing it and it starts acting like air is being pumped in when the spindle is run I don't know what to think. So that might be something to watch for, though I don't know if it would really be a problem. If it does it might warrant taking it apart again just to make sure nothings out of place. Really I expect it will clear up.

Jess

Assuming your lathe has 2 gits oilers protruding from the headstock casting. There is a small vent hole above each oiler, make sure they are open & not painted over or pluggedEd

Hi everyone- Thanks for the replies. When you say small vent holes above the oilers I see what I assume to be plugs both above and below my oil cups. Is at least the "plug" above the oil cups a "vent hole" and not a "plug"? Actually, this one is painted over. I will try next to get the paint off this. Can this unscrew like an NPT plug?

Thanks again for your replies. Mario

Post a pic of what you have. Iron bearing or bronze?

I have bronze bearings.

OK I removed the "plug" above the oil cup on the chuck-end and it definitely is a plug (not NPT thread - theres also a similar plug below the oil cup). Without the upper plug in the oil level in the cup does not change when running the lathe. With the plug in the level definitely changes and I would probably see air bubbles rising in the cup if I let it run long enough. I can see vent passageways in the head stock with the plug removed and I have tried to clear these with a small piece of wire with no effect. I might have to next remove this bearing cap and shims and see if I can get to the other end of some of these air passage ways. I would hope that this would solve my problem but I am somewhat doubtful. Any ideas of what to try at this point?

I need some "Gits" oil cups for the spindle bearings on my SB-13 (2-ea). I think they are the same as the one threaded in the front of the apron and I need one press in1/4"
Thanks. E-mail works best for me.
Frank