Hardinge HLV (and clones) tailstock lubrication

I don't see any oilers on it - how do I put the oil in? My old Grizzly mini-lathe had oilers all over the places - I just got used to them.
Would it also be a good idea to put way wipers on the tailstock? I took off mine and found lots of chips and grit under it.

Thanks!

Where are you talking about lubricating? On the dovetail I do a thorough job of cleaning the bed and the tailstock casting then put a puddle of Vactra #2 in the middle of the bed. The tailstock has some play when unlocked, and I lift the tailstock slide it over the puddle and let it down. If you lathe bed is not perfectly level the tailstock will slide on its own after doing this.
On the spindle Vactra seems too thick, again clean things up wind the spindle out and put some lighter spindle oil on top then wind it back in.

Getting chips underneath the tailstock never happened on my Hardinge, did they put a big chamfer on the edge of yours that allows chips to get under? I do not let chips accumulate on the bed especially when I am moving the tailstock.

Thank you, sir - that answers my question!

There is no taper on my tailstock, but I feel like when you move a tailstock it tends to naturally climb on the chips that are on the ways if they are not clean enough. Would it still be reasonable to put a wiper on it? By some reason I never seen wipers on tailstocks. Is it because manufacturers try to save money? (very unlikely with Hardinge and Monarch though). I'm thinking about 3d-printing the wiper, so it's basically free.

I have seen a post here in the past
where someone made an air bearing by
drilling ports in the bottom of the
Hardinge tailstock, and then used an
air regulator set at like 5 psi to
lift the tailstock and make it float
on air. Bonus is the chips can not
get under it with the air purge.
Maybe someone can find the thread or
has some insight on where to drill
the holes or mill the slots to make
this work.

-Doozer

As it is turning out, my imagination may not be as inflamed as I thought: here is a picture of a new Cyclematic CTL-618EVM. They're putting wipers on the tailstock.


I'm going to try to reach out to them and order a set.

Unfortunatelly, they said they don’t stock spare parts for these lathes any longer Will try generic wipers from McMaster. They have 5 different styles. Has anyone ordered wipers from there? What style would fit a Hardinge best?

You could always use the carriage wiper from Hardinge and drill and tap all the holes in your tailstock.
I still do not know why you get chips underneath your tailstock and I do not. I think I would want to know that before I went to all the trouble of measuring and drilling all those holes.

Frigzy said:

Thank you, sir - that answers my question!

There is no taper on my tailstock, but I feel like when you move a tailstock it tends to naturally climb on the chips that are on the ways if they are not clean enough. Would it still be reasonable to put a wiper on it? By some reason I never seen wipers on tailstocks. Is it because manufacturers try to save money? (very unlikely with Hardinge and Monarch though). I'm thinking about 3d-printing the wiper, so it's basically free.

Click to expand...

A cheap 1" wide brush wipe then a wipe with a paper towel soaked with some #2 oil is all that needs to be done.