Felt for Type O 9" Lathe

For the three oil tubes on my lathe,can I use the square felt that came in the rebuild kit that I bought? How long of a piece of felt goes in the tube?Thank you in advance for any advice offered.

I think we need some more details, or pics. What 3 oil tubes, what's it lubing, etc.

texasgunsmith said:

I think we need some more details, or pics. What 3 oil tubes, what's it lubing, etc.

Click to expand...

There are three tubes, one for the halfnuts and the other tubes are directing oil to the gears inside the apron . I don't have the saddle nearby so that is the best I can do right now. There are holes in the front of the apron with little brass plugs. .You remove the plug, add your drops of oil and place plug back into the hole to keep dirt out.The oil drips onto the halfnuts, the compound gearing and the horizonal movement(?)gears.

no , those do not get felts.

there are no caps on those normally, someone made them for the lathe you have.

The caps are part of the lathe # 289. There are six of them. They can be seen in the Parts section of SWells site 1930-Bltn-No19.pdf .If no felt, hows does it keep oil in? Do I have to add oil hourly? Seems that it would be a good way to wear out parts inadvertently.

Sorry, my lathes are later models that don't use those direct oiling tubes.
Personally, I would be hesitant to obstruct those tubes with felts. There's no guarantee
that they will actually slow drip, or even do so after a period of time. The only way that
you will know the parts are getting oil is if the tube actually empties. You really don't want
a felt to hold and keep the oil.

In regards to frequency, if you use the machine almost all day, then I think once at start of the
day should be sufficient. You might do some tests with your oil on a part that you can view
easily....maybe reversing gears? Coat the parts with oil and then see how long it takes before
you think they need oiling again. This way, you know what's happening down in your apron
and how often they might need more. The only other way is to setup some sort of drip system
which sounds like a major pain.

I'd rather put up with oil drips than to take a chance on a blocked tube. Just part of the joy of
having an old SB lathe I guess.

PMc

Also, for what it's worth, there is a direct oiling tube on the apron of my '46 and '57 lathes
that oils the half-nuts. I don't remember if it oils the half-nut shafts or the threads themselves.
But the ILION restoration book did not specify a felt in this tube.

(Sorry for bumping up the font size, but I simply cannot see the default #3 size very well)

PMc

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Mine is newer than a Type O, but I'd agree no felt for half nuts. Mine oil drops from tube to top half nut. A drilled hole in upper half nut allows oil to work down to lead screw. You only oil this when using half nuts.

The other tubes op mentioned, I'm unsure without laying an eyeball on all the parts, but would guess no as well.

Well, I'm going to put my faith in you guys(Yinz in Pittsburghese)and continue along. Thank you for your time.

oil is cheep let it rain [like an old h-d its a total loss system ] that's what they made rags for

I have a similar era SB9 and I used some random green felt from the craft closest (think Elf hat). About 1/2", stuffed down to the end, slows the oil flow down enough that a couple of squirts should last you a couple of hours. Used the same felt on all the shafts too. It's not proper machine felt, but it does the job and I have a lifetime supply of it!