lubricating lathes

You wouldn't catch me using motor oil. There is a post further down lubricating a mill. Same applies to a lathe.

John

-

Been using 5/40 motor oil for 5 years so far

Moved to colloidal graphite for serious work areas though

.

Why are you so dogmatically against white lithium grease?

... I'm genuinely interested to know.

MichaelG.

.

I've only read the abstract, but this would suggest that it is not.

MichaelG.

.

P.S. ... Some useful notes on its 'engineering' properties, here.

P.P.S.  Here is the MSDS for the product that I use.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 04/06/2015 08:18:09

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 04/06/2015 08:25:38

I have used Castrol gtx for 40 years no problem,gtx now has synthetic additive and have not tried that,been using halfords 10/40 for the last year no problem ,good lubrication, I had some Castrol classic straight 30 sae, tried it for lubricating the Colchester slides,slides were a lot stiffer to operate so that tin of oil is now used for the general purpose oil can only,

Very interesting set of articles about grease there, we always had a list in the workshop for which grease to use on which job and also which greases not to mix with each other.

Classic oils don't have the additives in to keep contaminants suspended in the oil, that's why old car engines were dirty inside and modern engines are clean, however I thought they had most of the other additives in so I'm surprised you found such a difference in operation, I know the slideway oil I've been using is better than the engine oil I was using.

Steve

.

As the great Lou Reed wrote:

Don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.

[O.K. his grammar is 'New York'; but the message is good]

MichaelG.

Clean engine oil is not ideal but if it was highly hazardous would it be on the shelf at the supermarket where children may buy it?

I wonder why a new machine - presumably under warranty - you'd use any lubricant other than what was specified in the user manual?

.

It is my understanding that motor oil is only carcinogenic once it has been used. Others will no doubt know more.

I also 'thought' (while any lubrication is better than no lubrication) that motor oils were designed to perform properly above a certain temperature.?

Nick

Almost all petrochemicals are carcinogenic (petrol, diesel, engine oil, paraffin, kerosene etc), either from fractions within (like benzene, toluene etc) or the tiny residues like pyrobenzine which are extremely carcinogenic. We sell all manner of these freely in garages and shops.

Don't ever be tempted to reuse used engine oil - it absorbs byproducts of combustion so that the concentration of nasties like benzopyrene build up with time.

One pathway into the body for these petroleum nasties is digestion, where you end up cleaning your hands as you eat. Common cancers caused by ingestion as well as the above also include the nether regions and scrotum. Nice.

Then there is alcohol which is fairly carcinogenic too and causes large numbers of cases of cancer of the mouth, throat, stomach, liver, bladder etc each year. At least we are gradually starting to ban smoking finally....

Yes, my dad used to be an industrial toxicologist and I still have his library.

One thing to remember is that some modern oils with Sulphur based EP additives, like some modern gear oils will actually attack and corrode yellow metals, such as copper, brass and bronze. If you're putting them into your geared head, QC Gearbox or slapping them on your leadscrews, the yellow metal bushings and feed nuts might not like it at all.

Graham

Daylight is carcinogenic and bananas are radioactive but a bit of common is required.

On the other hand, if your machine keeps going wrong, it helps stop you getting depressed about it.

Neil

I have just completed the modification to the gearbox on my WM280 as described by journeyman on his website http://journeymans-workshop.uk/lathemaint.php using the same oil Halfords Gear Oil EP 80W/90 GL-4, before doing this I read up on the oil specifications and found out that the GL rating is very important as GL-4 is safe to use on yellow metal bearings, brass, phosphor bronze, etc but GL-5 will corrode them so be careful which one you use.

The back of the gearbox plate that you have to remove to install the mod was 1/8" thick spongy rust and the residue in the bottom of the gearbox was a gooey mess so stripped the whole assembly down and cleaned it but you have to put a chamfer on the holes the gear change knob shafts pass through as otherwise the sharp edge cuts the sealing o rings tops off.

Resealed it with a flange sealant and all working well now with no leaks.

Thanks to journeyman for the description.

It's worth reading up on the different oil specs as it seems unwise to use an engine oil designed for hot environments in a cold gearbox, remember there's no engine heat to transfer through the casings and engines and gearboxes work under different conditions. Engine oil is slippery but so's hair oil and bath oil but you wouldn't use them in a gearbox - or would you?