Lube flow to Apron on Round Dial

I think the apron on my 1940 lathe ends up with more than its fair share of the way oil. I.e. there is always oil dripping from the back side of the apron, even when the upper oil outlets (for the carriage and cross slide) have barely any oil. I should probably try replacing the metering valve for the apron and see if that solves the problem. Is that a common failure mode for that valve? I.e. to allow too much flow?

Let me know where this goes. I get a good bit of way oil coming out the back side of my apron when I use it then let it sit. I think its probably from the lead screw, thread follower gears etc.. being lubed then leaking down. I get plenty of oil on the ways as well. The cross slide seems to stay lubricated, but I'm not sure how much oil is really supposed to be pumped up there so always seems a bit drier then everything else. Overall I'm not complaining. I like to see everything wet with oil, other wise it'll be wet with a mixture of rust and condensation. Don

The failure mode in a low pressure oil transmission system in my mind would be plugged valves not eroded restrictor pills. I’d guess the areas that exhibit lack of oil are the culprit

RC, My apron was oiling like crazy. I asked Ted at Monarch, and he sent me the proper Bijur fittings for the manifold, and he said that the internal fitting in the apron is a 5 PSI check valve. My story:

Apron oil pump question

rimcanyon said:

I think the apron on my 1940 lathe ends up with more than its fair share of the way oil. I.e. there is always oil dripping from the back side of the apron, even when the upper oil outlets (for the carriage and cross slide) have barely any oil. I should probably try replacing the metering valve for the apron and see if that solves the problem. Is that a common failure mode for that valve? I.e. to allow too much flow?

Click to expand...

sounds like the saddle oil line(s) and/or metering valves may be plugged. Those on my 16 CY are completely stopped up.

marka12161 said:

sounds like the saddle oil line(s) and/or metering valves may be plugged. Those on my 16 CY are completely stopped up.

Click to expand...

Last year I pulled the entire lube system and replaced both check valves on the pump, blew all the lines out with compressed air then tested every metering valve for function (after cleaning in the ultrasonic). i.e. I hooked up the pump (when it was out of the apron) directly to the manifold and hand pumped and checked flow through every metering valve. All looked good and about the same. So after reassembling I am still not getting as much flow to the upper ports as I would like. All ports are getting oil. So I suspect the metering valve that controls flow to the apron ports, including the half nuts and the internal copper lines for feed clutch bearings, etc. Note that this is a round dial, not a square dial, so the parts are different, and the metering valve for the apron is a part that appears to be NLA.

bll230: round dial and square dial machines have different plumbing for the apron connection...