Bijur Oiler fittings - check valve or?

[GregSY]

I'm rehabbing a Bijur oiler on a mill. The oiler itself was 100% inoperative, frozen with 30 years of crud and motor burned out. That part is all fixed and it puts out good pressure/flow. But, when the oil reaches the distribution manifold (which was also clogged solid), it stops dead. The manifold was cleaned out but there are 6 outlet fittings that won't flow anything.

I cleaned them and it looks like they have some sort of X inside that probably is meant to restrict the flow. There might be a coil spring behind the X though it's hard to see. According to the Bijur manual, the system can hit 60PSI....even with 120 PSI of air, no flow.

So my question is....do these fittings have some sort of check valve or cracking pressure? I'm wondering why/how all 6 can be zero flow. Before I get out the drill bit and make my own passage I thought I'd ask if someone knows what the deal is with these?

 

[pavt]

I'm rehabbing a Bijur oiler on a mill. The oiler itself was 100% inoperative, frozen with 30 years of crud and motor burned out. That part is all fixed and it puts out good pressure/flow. But, when the oil reaches the distribution manifold (which was also clogged solid), it stops dead. The manifold was cleaned out but there are 6 outlet fittings that won't flow anything.

I cleaned them and it looks like they have some sort of X inside that probably is meant to restrict the flow. There might be a coil spring behind the X though it's hard to see. According to the Bijur manual, the system can hit 60PSI....even with 120 PSI of air, no flow.

So my question is....do these fittings have some sort of check valve or cracking pressure? I'm wondering why/how all 6 can be zero flow. Before I get out the drill bit and make my own passage I thought I'd ask if someone knows what the deal is with these?

View attachment 291858

I seem to recall that they used metering orifices which are designed to limit the flow to the proper amount.. but when they clog up you'll never get them the same again. And its far easier to just buy new ones at something like $4 ea.

 

[GregSY]

Ahh....thanks.

I see them on Ebay...$14 each! That'd be over $80 for 6....maybe I'll buy some but I'm gonna drill these out first. The machine has been running with no oil so I'm not too fussy just yet on how much...I want to get 'some' oil through it.

 

[bhigdog]

The fittings regulate the oil to the proper amount needed. They have ID's on their sides indicating flow rate @ pressure. Drilling them out just totally defeats their purpose. You will likely get oil, lots and lots of oil. Seems like $80 is a small price to pay for a properly lubed machine tool. Just sayin...............Bob

 

[Bill D]

They are designed so not all the oil goes out the biggest hole. It is entirely possible that the lowest elevation oil ports would swallow all the output and the higher up ports would get nothing.
FYI for drip irrigation the lowest flow rate drippers I have seen are 2 liters per hour. I do not see any reason they could not be adapted for oil. I am sure flow rates and pressure drops would be different with oil instead of water.
Bil lD
Bil lD

 

[GregSY]

$80 is a lot when you bought the machine with a 'good' system lol.

But...I'm gonna order some. I tried drilling out the fittings and there is something freakin' hard in there....probably a ball bearing. It's pretty bad when you mangle whatever's in there and still will hold 120PSI without a speck of leakage.

Then I tried pressing out the insert assembly from the brass fitting...the Dake press shmushed the brass with little effort. So much for that

I tried the old trick of heating the fitting up with a torch to loosen it up and melt out the goo-goo. It worked on 2 of 5, a little.

I recognize they are orificed. But too much oil would be way better than no oil which is what I have now. As for drainback....I can't see there being much of that. Better yet, they could use one (1) check valve before the manifold that would do the same...cheaper and better. Oh well.

 

[pavt]

Willing to bet the orifices have check balls in them and that is what is really gumming up the works. I really don't know any way to save those little buggers, not even boiling them in solvent.

 

[GregSY]

The bad thing is...Bijur uses pretty much their own fittings and threads so you're not gonna go buy any at Home Depot. Or pretty much anywhere else without a lot of suffering.

 

[GregSY]

I had an epiphany (whatever that is) and dug around in my pile of shit and found a bag of Bijur fittings I had bought 20 years ago. One was the exact type of fitting I need 6 of. Not enough but it did let me check it against the old ones. I can't blow through it but if I try the air gun, it cracks open nicely and closes nicely. Probably 10-15PSI cracks it open.

 

[James H Clark]

The Bijur fittings will come apart by pulling the collar where the oil goes in. There is a small hardened rod in there as well as a screen and felt filter. Your are better of to buy the proper fitting for each location. Just because two of them "look" the same does not mean they are the same. The numbers printed on the side of the hex is the rating for that init. The smallest flow will be marked with triple o's. that is least amount of flow. The numbers will increase to double o's then single o, then 1 thru 8. I never had any luck trying to open one up and then putting it back together. To test a system, disconnect the lines, remove the fittings, re-install the fitting on the line and snug it up with it hanging in the air. Then operate the pump and watch how many drops you get at that point. For example, a fitting on the on the X axis way of a Bridgeport will need more oil than the vertical axis of the knee.
Drilling them out is a good way to screw up a drill. That little pin is hard. Hope this helps, its been a bunch of years since I got into a Bijur. Good luck.

JH

 

[ratbldr427]

There are two types of fittings,continuous flow meter and one shot which is what you appear to have(the rod inside is a piston that seats under no pressure to stop back flow and cracks to meter flow around it and stop flow until the pressure drops and then resets) .You said it had a motor drive?Again two types.On the one shot the clock motor cocks the piston pump to give the one shot.The continuous flow has a small gear pump that pumps as long as the motor runs.So you don't want to mix fittings and pumps.
You can buy the China fittings pretty cheap off E-Bay and don't feel bad about it because the Bijur are China made now. Machines with long runs the fittings can vary quite a bit.

The pump has a outlet check that should stop back flow.

If the install was factory just copy that.
James Clark is correct about trying to save them,I managed to save about half on my SG then found the cheap ones and quit screwing around and replaced all of them.

 

[ratbldr427]

Ment to add that Trico I think made the same meter fittings and pumps as Bijur.

 

[ratbldr427]

Not directly related to your system but when I said not to mix pumps and fittings I remembered that our Bobst cutters use a continuous run pump with one shot meters.But it is cyclic in the sense that you have to program the run time for each cycle.Each pump supplys 30 or more fittings so a piston pump(unless it was very large) would not have enough supply for a one shot.

 

[GregSY]

Thanks all.

This system was (I assume) factory installed on a Tree mill. It is the TM-5 which used a gearmotor to spin a cam/rocker that basically lifted the spring loaded piston then released it. The spring force is what actually pushes the oil. But, it appears the fittings jammed up which deadlocked the system, and when the motor tried to move against the locked piston, it burned out. Then, from sitting in one place so long, the piston also sort of corroded itself into the cylinder wall. It looks like this all happened from coolant getting into the oil....the oil had plenty of milky sludge in it.

The pump can also be operated manually by pulling up on the piston knob.

The gearmotor, a French-made Crouzet, is obsolete and Bijur sells a 'replacement' for only $362! They will also sell me a new inlet filter (2 brass screens of 1-1/2" dia and a fuzzy screen, also 1-1/2") for $79.

So....I cleaned up all of it and am proceeding with just the manual operation mode, which works fine. I'm hoping/assuming once I get the new fittings it will all work well....because if it doesn't, the only thing left is whatever is buried well under the mill table and that won't be pleasant. One thing is for sure...I can't stand the thought of running a machine without oil.

 

[pavt]

Seeing how well their system has held up, I wouldn't be giving them any money. I would be sore tempted to just bring all the oil lines out to a header block with a zerk fitting and use a hi-pressure oil gun on it, manually. Convert a grease gun to feed oil, or buy the real thing if you have the money.

 

[ratbldr427]

A few things to know;the stroke is adjustable and you can use it manually just make sure the cam is on the low spot.The motors are nothing special and can be bought from suppliers other than Bijur.I have always known them as clock motors.
Lincoln (among others) has a air/spring unit one shot lubricator that works for a replacement and have seen them used cheap.
I put one of them on our Cleerman drill with timing relay connected to the spindle motor contactor.
I have a few TM5 replacements that were less than $100 new.
As for reliability they will last for many years.Can't blame the unit for piss poor or no maintenance.

 

[edwin dirnbeck]

Oil will seep thru the smallest crack and make a mess.BUT,it wil never pass thru a BIJUR .Bijur is French for no oil. Edwin Dirnbeck

 

[GregSY]

The Bijur on my Wells Index has always worked well. It's hard to imagine anything that runs in oil its whole life getting frozen up but...I think the combination of small passages and coolant killed this one.

It's interesting to me....it appears Bijur didn't invent these check valve oiler fittings. From what I've read, they were used on 20's and 30's cars like Cadillacs, Packards, Pierce Arrows, etc. for all the various oiling points.

 

[GregSY]

To further add confusion....some sellers show these fitting as 5-1/6-24 thread. Others call them 8MM -1.0 thread.

I can take one and a 5/16-24 nut fits perfectly. Then if I try to run am 8MM-1.0 nut on, it fits perfectly.

 

[bhigdog]

I have some unused Showa PSS-0 & PSS-1 units. Google says they X-ref to a Bijur FJB. If you can use or adapt them I'll send you 6........Bob