L&S 1408 tailstock lube and mystery block

borne2fly · May 20, 2019

The manual says to use grease for the tailstock Way lube points. There is a lube port like this above each Way. I have a hard enough time getting oil into these things without it squirting everywhere, so I can't imagine how to maintain a solid enough connection to pump in something like grease. Is there a trick to this? Maybe a special grease gun fitting? Or am I better off just using really heavy Way oil?

The other pictures show an attachment that came with this lathe. What is this thing? It looks like it should hold the ends of the leadscrew and carriage drive, but the geometry is way off and the bolt holes don't line up with anything that I can find.

Pictures are small but if you click on them I think they will pop up much bigger

enginebill · May 20, 2019

They are called bullet oilers and they are meant for way oil, not grease.

b2major9th · May 21, 2019

There are grease applicators that are made to work with these ball-lubrication fittings

jdleach · May 21, 2019

Also called "ball" oilers, they are pretty uniformly used for....oil, not grease. In the vast majority of situations in these old machine tools, some sort of oil is called for. Spindles and other rotating shafts generally get a light oil, say 10W to 20W non-detergent motor or hydraulic oil works well. Where gearing is involved, such as in an apron, the quick-change gearbox, and the headstock gears, a heavier 30W or 40w non-detergent is good. Ways get way oil, which is heavier yet, and has a "tacky" quality.

Due to the higher revolutions in the headstock gears, I usually employ way oil, as it has great wear reducing qualities, and isn't so apt to sling off.

Grease for things that are open to the environment, such as ways, lead screws, etc., and partially covered gearing and shafts such as in the headstock and QC gearbox, is a big no-no. Grease has a great propensity to attract, and hold, all manner of grit, chips, dust, and about everything else. The "cling" of grease entraps foreign particles, and hold them so that they can grind away at the surfaces you are trying to preserve.

Not good.

borne2fly · May 21, 2019

That makes sense .... these are typically for oil. I tried grease on a tailstock way years ago and as you say it made a big mess. And so I was surprised to see the L&S manual for this thing call for grease. I'm going to go with heavy way oil instead.

Grigg · May 25, 2019

Can we see the manual?
Could it be confusing and grease is used elsewhere in the tailstock, but way oil for the ways?

Glug · May 25, 2019

Some parts of the tailstock take grease. I recall there is supposed to be a zerk fitting for NLGI No 2 grease in the bore of the tailstock quill. It is missing on my 1408. I haven't torn into it yet.

Grigg · May 26, 2019

I'd like to know about the way wipers on this lathe.

I have an older (1968) Powerturn and it came with 1/4" thick Micarta wipers, no felt.
Monarch (supports L&S today) uses felt with covers as replacements/upgrade and the price is a little steep.
Pretty sure if I could see what they are trying to sell me I could make them myself and do a very nice job for less money/effort than buying them.. Just need to see what they are first.

Are the wipers shown earlier in this thread original or replacements, and if replacements homemade or bought?

Thanks,
Grigg

borne2fly · May 26, 2019

Grigg, the wipers you see in my posts are the new felt replacements. I bit the bullet and bought them, not really knowing what they'd send me. In retrospect, there's no reason you can't make these yourself, and for a lot less.

borne2fly · May 27, 2019

Grigg, I misread the manual. Station 7 (tailstock ways) uses way oil, while station 7A (revolving tailstock) needs grease. Ok, that makes sense.

I changed the headstock oil to a much thicker oil today and gave it a spin to see if it would quieten down the noise. It did, very slightly. But the spindle bearings settled at 120 deg after an hour, that's 20 degrees hotter than with the recommended viscosity. Not worth putting the bearings at risk, I changed it back to the original weight oil.

Grigg · May 27, 2019

Thanks for the info on the way wipers.
Looks like 16 gauge steel covers on 1/4” hard felt?
Would you mind sharing a few more pictures of them?

Thanks,
Grigg

Greg Menke · May 27, 2019

The specs for the Nichols production mill specify using "grease" for the various ways, giving only a brand label. One owner tracked it down and it was a liquid grease somewhat analagous to steam cylinder oil- viscious, a bit sticky but nothing like a tube grease. I and my machine's prev owner had previously made the mistake of using #2 NLGI, which is a horrible mistake; ways hydrolock, grease collects chips like it was glue and so on. The general consensus was to use conventional way oil instead, pumped thru the zerk fittings just like on a Bridgeport.

Can't speak to the parts that actually want #2 grease, but would argue against its use on a way surface.

borne2fly · Jun 3, 2019

Grigg,
>> ... Looks like 16 gauge steel covers on 1/4” hard felt? .....
That's right. More pics attached of the carriage and tailstock wipers

borne2fly · Jun 3, 2019

Grigg, More pics of the carriage wipers. Had to break this into two posts (PM limits 5 pics per post) ...

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L&S 1408 tailstock lube and mystery block

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