Oil change on 10EE

[rke[pler]

I am hoping/planning on receiving a 1956 10EE in the next few weeks and among the initial work on it I plan to drain and replace the oil. I have the operator's manual that lists the necessary oils, which I can get locally, but nothing in the manual suggests locations for the drains.

Understanding that I can't go out in the shop and poke at the lathe can anyone help me out? (Even "when you get it all will be clear" would be useful).

 

[daryl bane]

For the headstock , when you
pull off the big cast cover over the belts
on the LH of the machine,you'll see (hopefully) a piece of pipe sticking straight out with a screw-on pipe plug. This is the headstock drain. You will have three
oil points to fill on the headstock. One for the rear main bearing, another for the front
main bearings. and another for the headstock sump. The front and rear have little screw oil ports over their respective sight glasses
on the operator side. The main sump fills through a oil plug on the top headstock cover. It even says "oil" on it.
As you go back to the LH end, under the headstock drain pipe, there will be 3 oil
drain/fillers for the gearbox. These come out of the gearbox, with the lowest one, the drain, a pipe with a plug on it like the headstock drain. Right above it, a pretty brass "GITS" (I think) Right angle oil level/filler and to the left a oil pipe with a 90 union and a plug. You will fill the gearbox thru the Gits Filler until level is reached thru the sightglass. And fill the 90
union till it won't accept any more oil. If you have a back gear( its on the belt end on the motor) it has its own little sightglass
and fills thru the top pipe plug. Thats a vented plug by the way. It drains thru a plug on the bottom, can't miss it.
The apron fills thru a screw-on filler plug on the front of the apron, about 1:00 to the handwheel. Drains on the LH side low with a pipe plug, Fill by sightglass.
Tailstock has oil filler screws as well as the electric leadscrew/reverse switchbox.
I am sure I left something out or if I'am
in error, You guys out there please correct me.I hope this helps. Daryl

 

[rke[pler]

Originally posted by daryl bane:
I hope this helps. Daryl

Thanks! That's a big help.

 

[rke[pler]

Well, the lathe is in the shop and I started changing the oil - good thing, too, as the spindle oil looks more like heavy medium than light. Got less than a quart out, too, which didn't encourage me.

Refilled with the specified 3 quarts and thought it went well, until I found oil dripping at about 1/2pt per hour. It's definitly the spindle oil, and it's falling into the body from about 2/3 of the way towards the tail from the belts. Crushed lube line, maybe? I'm hoping that someone has an idea, but right now it doesn't look too good and I might have to pull the head to find the leak...

 

[daryl bane]

On the back of the headstock, on the lower left, there is a overflow line. Its just a 1/8NPT hole with a brass fitting and a copper line that is bent under the headstock. There is a trough cast in the top of the ways under the headstock. There is a little oval opening on the way casting directly under the spindle. The overflow should come out of the oval opening down to the coolant sump. If that oil you are talking about is coming from somewhere else, there is NO SOMEWHERE ELSE. Something is cracked and lets not talk about that. I bet its coming out of the overflow, and that line has been rerouted improperly. Daryl

 

[rke[pler]

Daryl, you're right. The overflow seems to almost make it to the drain that you mention, but the drain point into the sump was plugged up with crap. I picked the crap out - I bet it simply blocked most of the oil and made it back up into the casting, draining there where it could.

The thing that threw me off was that the manual claimed a 3 quart capacity, and I'd drained it completely. I suspect that there's not a lot more room than 1.5 quarts. I spent the evening cleaning the sight glasses and can now see the oil level, nothing's dripping and the level seems stable.


Thanks for your comments.