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Okuma LS lubrication questions

Aaron B

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Location
Northern Ohio
Hopefully this is the correct forum for this question as there seems to be a fair amount of discussion here of the LS. In my case it's actually a Dong Yang, but they seem to be twins.

So I've had the lathe probably going on 20 years but haven't used it much, zero use in the last five years.

I recently had a part that I needed to run, so I cleaned the lathe up and checked it over. Once running I noticed the headstock sight wasn't showing much flow, and I could hear the oil pump struggling for oil. Sure enough the oil was low. I'd always intended to change it, but never got around to it. So I popped open the manual to find it calls for "turbine oil #90". Google didn't help. No response from Phillips66. So I emailed the regional Okuma distributor. They said the turbine oil is an old JIS standard, and they cross it to R&O 32. Naturally the local oil company is three weeks out on that. After a bit of investigation it seems the John Deere Hygard low viscosity fits the bill.

So I drained drained the remaining oil, which must've been 68 or 100, cleaned the oil filter, and gave it a gallon of Hygard.
Now the pump is happy and it's getting good flow on the headstock glass. But the feed box isn't really doing much, maybe two or three drops a minute. Is that normal? Or is there something amiss? The manuals don't shed any light on the lubricating system beyond the tank, pump and filter. I'm not keen to start tearing things apart to check, but I'm not comfortable with the apparently low flow. Thoughts?

While on the subject of lubrication, the manual is very vague on the lubrication of the spindle bearings. It says they're grease packed and should be good for at least five years. Well five years has passed by few decades now. I would ask the Okuma rep, but being as the lathe isn't technically an Okuma it seems unlikely I'd get too far with my inquiry.

Thanks,
Aaron


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Well, after more investigation it appears the oil flow to the feed box is good. There look to be wicks for the various lubrication points, so it might be the sight glass is set up the same. The nozzle is running a good steam onto the distribution plate.
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As far as the spindle bearings go, I cannot find any discussion of them, so will let well enough alone.


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Use AW 46 in the gearbox of my Dong Yang....have for years works fine....Use the same oil in all my lathes and mills even my NC Deckel gear boxes....
Feed gear box sight glass drips one drop every second of so once it gets flowing...takes about 15 seconds to see any flow after the main motor is up...

Drips come from wicking in the distribution tray above the glass....

Spindle bearings are grease packed....Believe there is a plug screw at the front of the headstock on top that is intended to allow grease to be added to the bearings....
Never done anything with my machine on the spindle....Has run regularly (every day) for 30+ years, no issues there...
Cheers Ross
 
I'm certainly not seeing a drop a second. Perhaps the wick is gummed up?


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When I picked up mine it took a while for the wicks to get saturated and drip what it needs. They will "load up" with oil.
 








 
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