Ball Oilers, stupid questions

[IceCzar]

So...I have multiple machines with ball oiler ports, a gear lathe 15x30 at work improperly maintained that is now my overhaul/maintenance baby and my own Mikron 79 gear hobber for restoration. Both use these ports and they are fairly obvious. Except the oil can fitting I should use isn't.

There are a ton of previous threads addressing this full of dead links.
Used plenty of grease zerks, understand how it should work and seal.
but want to avoid reinventing the wheel.

the lathe fittings are quite flat with the ball
the gear hobber looks like tits (spherical with ball)
probably two off the shelf fittings if I only knew the terminology to find them

thank you

 

[sfriedberg]

I put oil in ball oilers two ways.
1) Get a small squeeze bottle with a blunt Luer needle tip. Use the tip of the needle to depress the ball.
2) Take a can oiler with a metal tip small/pointy enough to depress the ball. Use a fine jeweler's saw to cut a slit in the oiler tip, right across the hole on the end. This way you can depress the ball with the tip seated right on it and still have a passage for oil to get out and past the ball.

 

[jwmelvin]

I’ll say that they can seem frustrating, but when you find the right tip, the frustration ends. I have one oiler that works super well:

 

[farmersamm]

Ball oilers are great..........when they work. If you've ever seen one that doesn't return to closed position, you know what I mean. I put a piece of electrical tape over them to keep the crud out. Cheap insurance.

BTW...........they work best with the cheapo pump oilers, with the plastic end on the spout. The soft end allows the oiler to seal, and deliver pressure to the fitting.

 

[mike44]

I could never tell if oil passed thru the ball oilers. Ordered cup type with lids to replace the ball oilers. I tapped a drywall screw thru the oiler and pulled them up with the claw of the hammer. Solved that problem.
mike

 

[guythatbrews]

Funny this came up right now. I just got a Cazeneuve lathe and the euro type ball oiling points are all over it.


The oil can shown in post 3 is what i use for the flat ball oiling points like this

and works if you really jam it in hard.

But for the euro type it's not as good.

Google push oiler. Lots of choices, most have plastic bodies. Some have ball tips for concave oiling points as above, some convex for the nipple type, and some both.

This one looks really good and has both tips.

Reilang 01.121/AV Hand Push Oiler for low viscosity oils

✅ Buy your Reilang 01.121/AV Hand Push Oiler for low viscosity oils here ✅ Authorised Reilang dealer ✅ We are engineers ✅ Fast shipping from Germany ✅

www.jensputzier.com

But ouch. And double ouch after adding shipping from Deutschland.

 

[IceCzar]

the above photo is the concave
our lathe the flat variety
my Swiss gear hobber the convex variety (but only a half sphere not a zerk)
and there is a wide array of diameters

what I'm really hoping for is an oil can with interchangeable tips (or multiple cans)
but I lack the terminology to even find what I'm looking for

the difference between NPT, JIC, sch60 for a fluid fitting

 

[IceCzar]

thank you guythatbrews
i think that will do

 

[guythatbrews]

If you get one you like let us know what it is please.

 

[Gordon Heaton]

I have an oil can that works perfectly with all but the large-ball fittings on a Hyd-Mech saw. It is a simple 'pointed' nozzle of about 60deg included angle and the point isn't blunted like the one jwmelvin shows in post 3. I find the blunted type hard to seal and difficult in general.

 

[farmersamm]

Holy Sha Moley............y'all are makin' this harder than it should be.

Forget about those fancy injectors........................ Grab ya one of these..........


A few bucks on Fleabay, and puts out pressure that's good enough to oil whatever you want to oil. And...........I mean good positive pressure. Don't get trapped in that high dollar bullsh!t stuff.

Works like a charm on any size ball oiler 'cause it has a tapered tip.

 

[IceCzar]

While slitting the ball I'm sure would work, eventually I'd be concerned it would rotate.
A sticking ball from oil residue or failed spring would be a pain I'd address with solvent or replacement (for my own machine) the number of ports on my Mikron 79 are impressive, its literally festooned with them and historical accuracy of a precision instrument of some interest.

 

[farmersamm]

A tapered plastic SOFT end. This stuff works.

 

[IceCzar]

post No 3 is the opposite of the Mikron 79 fitting

Reilang seems to offer such an adapter if at a high price points​

 

[Gordon Heaton]

Works like a charm on any size ball oiler 'cause it has a tapered tip.

Maybe, maybe not. Large-ball oilers, like most others, have limited ball travel. You can destroy one by pushing too far before the taper seats. I speak from experience.

 

[Gordon Heaton]

While slitting the ball I'm sure would work. . .

The suggested 'slitting' was for the oiler tip, not the ball. It isn't necessary anyway as every decent pump style can has enough pressure to get past the ball.

 

[farmersamm]

Maybe, maybe not. Large-ball oilers, like most others, have limited ball travel. You can destroy one by pushing too far before the taper seats. I speak from experience.

If you know it's a large diameter ball, trim the tip of the oiler. It doesn't push in as far. I hear ya, and I've done the snip thing. There's a ton of ways to skin the cat, and some of them are pretty cheap.

It's just a modicum of common sense I guess.

 

[IceCzar]

Most of the above would probably work for the flat ball oilers on the lathe.
These are on the Mikron 79

 

[Gordon Heaton]

Those are generally used with a 'cup' type nozzle. Rubber or plastic seal. Mikron probably included a simple push-pump with the original purchase. You could make one with little effort.

 

[IceCzar]

and that might be exactly what I do
I'll add it to the list :p

Thank you all for the help