Member postings for Robert Swift

Thanks to all for the responses... I am very grateful for the time people have taken to reply, find links etc.

Cheers - Robert...

So armed with a fresh perspective based on Mike's suggestion, I had another look, I'd seen the bolt that was part of what I assumed to be the quill assembly, seems that it is in fact just the scale holder, loosened it, and it slid up nicely. Job done

Lesson learned, don't assume the bleedin' obvious isn't actually, bleedin' obvious

Cheers - Robert...

Thanks both for the replies. I took the nipple out with some long nose pliers, was a bit tricky. The grease gun fitted straight on to it, although getting it off again was a bit of fun

The diagram I have states that this is a '2BA Nipple 5714' but I cannot determine what the 5714 means? The nipple on the side that is easy to access is listed as a '1/4" BSF Hydraulic Nipple'.

I'll have a look to see what can be slackened off around it, but certainly from all my investigation so far, the only thing that can be tightened is the lock for the quill assembly itself, the metal obstruction seems to be part of the quill assembly? It is a good idea about making a small extension, I'll also look into different nozzles for the grease gun. The drill will be getting light use, so I'm able to make do in the short term with a bit of creativity and some rags to clean up afterwards.

Thanks for the guidance on the time before new grease is needed too.

Thanks again, much appreciated - Robert...

Hello,

I’m new to the forum, I've recently purchased a lovingly owned Meddings MF4 pillar drill, absolutely fabulous to use. I contacted Meddings to understand what oil and grease I should use (the recommendations from 1967 are no longer sold) and I now have the ISO22 oil and Gadus S2 V100 3 grease (via Smith & Allan, very helpful). From the instructions/diagram I can see two grease nipples (numbers 51 & 82 from the diagram) and one oiler (number 140). Nipple 51, on the left hand side of the drill is no problem... but...
I cannot attach the grease gun to the nipple on the quill, number 82? The nipple is enclosed, and the gun attachment is too big? I've taken the gun attachment apart and it is obvious that I cannot file or turn it down, it is very thin. The photo below is the nipple in question:

I feel I'm missing something really obvious, I've searched online for 'small' grease gun heads but all I can seem to find are regular grease gun heads on small capacity bodies?

I'm hoping someone has a suggestion to help me on this? I'm very grateful in advance for any guidance.

I'm not sure how often I should load the grease, I bought the lathe from a couple who were selling off the contents of a workshop following the death of the owner, so I'm not able to ask him.

Last question, the oiler at the top of the gearbox has confused me a bit, it has a flap suggesting regular oil, yet when I unscrewed to check (and learn about the inner workings of the drill) the ball race was full of grease, not oil? Should I be squirting some grease down there from time-to-time?

Apologies for the rolling eyes from many readers, I'm rather new to engineering and, whilst I'm enjoying the challenge of learning new things, some learning curves are harder than others, it seems some aspects of engineering are taken for granted, whereas others have a million and one YouTube videos to give a steer.

Thanks in advance - Robert...