By applying excessive oil pressure to a 6mm button oiler on my cross-slide I pushed the oiler's ball bearing past the spring and out the other side of the casing. I shall be pleading guilty at the court-martial.

After removing the button oiler I can see that the ball bearing has fallen into the top of the oilway, which leads straight down to the ways. The ball rotates in the hole so it's not jammed solid but, so far, I can't get it out.

I've tried levering the ball with a needle, attracting it with a magnetised rod, flushing with WD40 and blowing compressed air from underneath. No luck.

I would prefer not to remove the cross-slide until all else has failed. Can anyone suggest a solution please?

Secondly, can anyone suggest a source of 6mm diameter button oilers? RDG and various ebay suppliers don't seem to stock that size.

Thanks,

Dave

Neil and Roy,

My heroes!

Neil's rod and grease trick wasn't quite sticky enough to lift the ball cleanly out, but I was able to get the bearing out of the narrow oilway and into the oiler well. Grease dislodged whilst fishing about stopped the ball bearing falling back and then I was able to get it with the magnet.

I think my earlier magnet only attempt failed because a ball deep inside an oilway is surrounded by iron which also gets magnetised.

Many thanks,

Dave