oiling the cross slide

[roy williams 3Participant @roywilliams3]

hello I use a old round head student lathe and was pondering how others oil the cross slide has any body fitted oil nipples to the slide if you squirt oil on the vees it just gets pushed off as soon as you move the slide I wonder what others have done roy

[roy williams 3Participant @roywilliams3]

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

To be honest I rarely oil mine. Although you think the oil is being completely wiped away it wont be.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I'd be surprised if it doesn't have oil nipples on all the main external bearings. My (Colchester) Bantam has them on the saddle, slides, tailstock, apron, leadscrews etc. Brass with spring loaded ball, requiring an oiler. I use the same oil for the gearbox, nipples and slides ie ISO-32 hydraulic oil, modern equivalent of the Telus oil recommended in the manual.

Have you got the manual for your machine? It will tell you how to lubricate the various parts, as this is something they will recommend you do frequently. There is bound to be some means for doing it.

Murray

[WALLACEParticipant @wallace]

I’ve sometimes thought about adding oiling points onto the cross slide of my Harrison which is similarly devoid of them.

Would it be a good idea to mill a narrow channel to spread the oil evenly and act as a reservoir – and would a ‘diagonal’ one be best to cover as much of the sliding surface as possible (without going right to the edge ) ?

Obviously I wouldn’t want it any bigger than necessary to avoid increasing the wear on the remaining metal….

W.

Edited for spell check getting ideas of its own….

Edited By WALLACE on 08/01/2015 15:15:25

Edited By WALLACE on 08/01/2015 15:16:28

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

An oil channel would help, common in big old bushes. No need to mill, a little half-round chisel is quick on cast iron. Figure 8 was common if you have the room.

[roy williams 3Participant @roywilliams3]

hi many thanks for the idea of oil channels [I had,nt thought of that ] think I might try on the top slide first just to see how it works some where in the workshop I have several ball oilers just drill a hole and press them in after I mill the channel brill yes I have the manual and have done various mods over the 20 or so years of owning the machine but I never thought about oiling the X and top slide many thanks

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