Sanity Check on my BP Manual. Grease on Bridgeport Ways?

Leaky88 · Mar 30, 2020

When I purchased my BP I was warned to never use grease on the ways. Only way oil. Being new to Mills, I never contested it and the One-Shot Oiler schematic served to enforce the use of oil only.

I have a REPRODUCED manual for my BP and I do read/refer to manuals despite what my wife might say.

Anyway, while looking at the manual this weekend I noticed “GREASE” was called out for the ways. At least in the book I have. Ref: bottom Left corner.

Just curious if anyone has the original Manual which WRONGLY states to use GREASE too.

Thanks

Leaky

ChipSplitter · Mar 30, 2020

FWIW, there can be a bit of a fuzzy line between grease and oil. You can get liquid grease which is basically really thick mineral oil.
That said, maybe Bridgeport had a revelation or change of heart somewhere along the line, who knows.

4GSR · Mar 30, 2020

Stick to way oil on all ways on a Bridgeport. Grease will wear out the ways in a heartbeat!!!
Try Mobile Vactra No. 2 way oil.

Ken

Greg Menke · Mar 30, 2020

Bearing grease will make an unholy mess of the ways, probably stick the table to the ways & will need a full disassembly to clean it out. They manual is not talking about one of the NLGI greases eg #2 or whatever, but a liquid grease of viscosity not unlike steam cylinder oil. #2 Vactra or equivalent is the right stuff. Its easy to convert a small grease gun for use with it, the zerk fittings are convenient for oil; goes in under pressure so oil gets out onto the way surfaces, but keeps dirt out too.

Leaky88 · Mar 31, 2020

Thanks, all points taken.
I’ve only used Way Oil, no grease.
I Never had any inkling of using grease of any kind thanks to listening to more experienced people.
But, I’ve read many accounts of used machines being bought which were incorrectly lubed with grease or as Chipsplitter/GregMenke pointed out, the wrong class of grease.
When I saw the word “grease” in my manual, the word just seemed larger than any other word in the text and wondered if it, and the zerk fittings accounted for incorrect and damaging practice of using incorrect lubricant.
Appreciate the feedback. I’ll make the Pen and Ink correction in my manual, and move on.

Thanks
Leaky

M.B. Naegle · Mar 31, 2020

Leaky88 said:
I’ll make the Pen and Ink correction in my manual, and move on.

Sometimes even the OEM makes mistakes

. Most makers are looking for ways to better there machines and often the various improvements that end up in later model machinery don't involve the old machines and old literature already in the field, but the way-oil/grease thing is one where I think the Bridgeport Alumni world has had to take a step back and rethink their practices.

Every now and then, someone pops up who greases their mill with axle grease because "that's what the good book says!" and swears that it has no adverse effects. But there's also people who think the world is flat too, so I try to ignore them.

Mcgyver · Mar 31, 2020

I was interested to see the attachment, but its kind of unreadable - too small/low a resolution and sideways. Could you repost it?

markz528 · Mar 31, 2020

Don't know for how long, but there was a period that Bridgeport specified grease. Mine was a 1966 model and was specified with Shell Alvania Grease 2 / Mobil Gargoyle Grease Sovorex No. 1. The updated grease I used was Mobil XHP 222 - 220 viscosity.

My BIL now has the machine and grease is all that it has ever seen in its life and has had no ill effects because of it.

Years ago I was going to convert it to ways oil, but was warned that you have to take the ways apart and clean them of all the grease before you convert or it could be problematic. Never did it.

jim rozen · Mar 31, 2020

Greg Menke said:
Bearing grease will make an unholy mess of the ways, probably stick the table to the ways & will need a full disassembly to clean it out.

Nope. Not 'probably.'

Definitely!

You are hearing this from a fool who did exactly that, pumped a bport table *full* of bearign grease. In my defence:

1) this machine had zerk fittings on the ways.
2) there was a grease gun within easy reach.
3) was not my machine, I just used it, and wanted to be a good citizen and clean and lube it.

Yeah, that table locked up hard. I did not see the aftermath, but I heard about it. I did confess my sin
right away, and the grease gun was never to be seen around there again.

Evidently zerk fittings are also used for oil guns....

Leaky88 · Mar 31, 2020

Hopefully this image is better.

While at it, could someone please tell me the purpose of this knob?
There is one on each side of the column.

Thanks.
Leaky

mc3608 · Mar 31, 2020

Earlier manuals called for Grease. I've used grease for 50 yrs with no ill effects.
I would think that BP engineers would know what they were doing.With the one shot lube systems they use oil and yes you can use a grease gun with oil but the dammed leak and make a mess.

Greg Menke · Mar 31, 2020

lol, I did it to my Nichols horizontal- I was skeptical but the previous owner had used grease so I did too. The table didn't <actually> stick, since the production lever feed could apply sufficient force to make it move, and the knee was heavy enough to move also.. but the machine was very unhappy. I got all the parts back off using the shop crane and grease ended up all over everything during the cleanup. Chips stick in the grease the weeps out all over the inside of the knee casting and on the exposed way surfaces, turning into little razors stuck everywhere that have to be scrubbed off with mineral spirits or diesel or gasoline depending on how horrible the mess is.

Another Nichols owner traced the grease specified in its manual to a high viscosity liquid grease; not bearing grease.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Mar 31, 2020

The only time you should grease the ways on a machine tool is if it's being put into storage. Even then you only coat the ways with it, you wouldn't pump any into the machine via the nipples.

Regards Tyrone.

Thunderjet · Mar 31, 2020

Leaky88 said:
Hopefully this image is better.

While at it, could someone please tell me the purpose of this knob?
There is one on each side of the column.

Thanks.
Leaky

Looks like a mount for a light, but I could be wrong.

Leaky88 · Mar 31, 2020

Mcgyver said:
I was interested to see the attachment, but its kind of unreadable - too small/low a resolution and sideways. Could you repost it?

Hope my repost is more legible. I apologize.

wesg · Mar 31, 2020

Thunderjet said:
Looks like a mount for a light, but I could be wrong.

That's my guess too.

My Lagun FTV-1 has a lube spec plate riveted on it. It spec's a 220 something gear oil for the ways. Weird, but, I bought the gear oil. Seemed like the Y-axis was stickier than it ought to be (It IS tight). Got me wondering. One day looking thru the manual I found it's spec'd as Waylube #2. Back to the plate, which is a bit confusing, and I find out it's for one of their bigger machines that has power feed gear in the knee. Gear lube makes sense for that, of course.

Don't know without looking at it again if it has a separate spec on it for #2, or if they've done something odd and use the gear lube for the ways. Seems like a dumb idea considering the kind of crud that winds up in gearboxes. So I probably just didn't read it right.

specfab · Mar 31, 2020

No guessing required for the "knobs" on the sides. Those are indeed for the articulated arm worklamps that were mounted to these machines as a typical installation:

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...-dazor-machine-lights-239314/?highlight=lamps

The early lube recommendations were indeed for grease on the ways.

Sanity Check on my BP Manual. Grease on Bridgeport Ways?

Plastic

Attachments

Titanium

Diamond

Diamond

Plastic

Diamond

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Plastic

Attachments

Aluminum

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Plastic

Titanium

Titanium

Similar threads