Changing SB 10L oils?

Hello,
I just bought a used SB 10L and I would like to change the headstock and transmission oils. I'm not sure what the previous owner used and I would like to drain all the oil out the the headstock and trans before adding new oil. Do you simply remove the set screws under the headstock fillers to drain the headstock?

I checked the archives and I'm planning to buy and use Mobil Velocite Spindle Oil No. 10 in the headstock and Mobil DTE Hydraulic Oil 25 or DTE Machine/Turbine Medium Heavy in the Trans and Carriage. Vactra 2 on the ways.

Also, my lathe came with a factory 110V 3/4 HP motor that has 2 oilers on it. And recommendations for oil type?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi There,

The motor tag should give a recomendation but I would think that either the Mobil DTE Hydraulic Oil 25 or DTE Machine/Turbine Medium Heavy would be suitable for this.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

Depending on how motivated you are, its worth a look inside the carriage apron to clean out the sludge that can accumulate in there. Once the carriage is off, theres a sort of inspection plate on the back side held down by a few screws. Take that off and you can see inside if theres a mess. You can also check & see if the oil wicks are still there. While you're at it, you might also separate the apron from the carriage to see if any chips have worked their way up into the cross feed gearing. There are no factory adjustments to worry about for these things, just don't mess around with the spindle bearings.

I drain my 10L headstock by freeing the bed clamps, shifting it onto a piece of plywood and tilting it forward to drain into the chip tray- being careful to NOT drop it on my feet. Some people have replaced headstock oilers with various plumbing to make draining & filling easier. You may not be able to get both oil cups unscrewed, there is insufficient clearance on mine to get one of them out.

I use Mobil 1 5W-30 in my 10L headstock & apron and Vactra #2 on the ways. Opinions about proper oils are diverse and passionate. But seeing the state of some poor old hardware, I think simply having any oil at all is the important thing...

Gregm

"I use Mobil 1 5W-30 in my 10L headstock & apron and Vactra #2 on the ways. Opinions about proper oils are diverse and passionate."

Vactra #2 is an excellent way oil. Its use is as intended.

A circulating (turbine) oil, such as DTE light or medium heavy might be better for the spindle and apron.

Another vote here for synthetic Mobil One,
5W30 wt. This is what I've been running
in my 10L for about 15 years now. I did this
to eliminate heating and siezing at the top
range of spindle speeds, when the bearings
were adjusted to spec using the factory SB
spindle oil.

The lower set of pipe plugs, the ones
below the oil cups, will drain the reservoirs
once they are removed.

I made up a short piece of tube on an NPT
fitting, so I just remove the existing plug,
cover the fitting with my finger, and then
loosely screw in the drain fitting, which
has a short piece of flexible hose to go
to a container to catch what drains out.
Fill and drain till it runs clear.

The reservoir behind the apron (what GDL is
probably refering to as the 'transmission')
does indeed deserve to be opened up from the
back, and all the spooge should be scraped
out. At this point the apron should be
drained and re-filled with clean oil on a
regular basis. Twice a year is not out of line
on this.

Jim

There does seem to be a variety of oil cup configurations on 10L headstocks. Mine has only the oil cups attached to nuts which thread into the headstock. No extra draining features anywhere. My guess is my oil cups are press-ins, and I'd have to start tearing them apart to incorporate plumbing- which I've been tempted to do a couple times.

But at the moment I'm in the middle of finally cleaning out the horrible crud in the qc gearbox, and getting the threading chart properly secured- which naturally involves the accidental and unfortunate discovery of old broken off taps in blind holes. The same old story... lol

Its nice to have a lathe and a mill, each can make or fix or work on parts for the other.

Gregm