Myford S7 countershaft lubrication

Ever since I got my S7 new I've religiously topped up the oil cups on the countershaft bearings. I noticed that the RH cup was always empty, but the LH always appeared to be full. Today for the first time in ages I used the high speed range and it was even noisier than it used to be. Now I wonder if the LH oil cup is actually feeding much (any?) oil to its bearing?

Can anyone tell me how they are fixed in position please? I'd assumed they are screwed in, but looking closer each one sits in a slight recess in the bearing housing and it certainly looks as if the cup itself would foul on the sides of the recess if one tries to unscrew it, so maybe they are push fit? I'd like to remove the oiler and just verify that oil is getting through to the bearing.

Why on earth would Myford still fit sleeve bearings in this position rather than a couple of ball bearings, in a lathe manufactured in the 1990s?

Regarding the noise, on the high speed range the lathe starts with an almighty jolt with the clutch disengaged and then runs with a bit of a rattle, then just gets noisier when the spindle is going. Smooth and quiet it has never been!

I wonder where all the oil goes, I always fill up the countershaft oilers before using the lathe, they are always empty and I must use an oilcan full during the course of a year but cannot see where it is draining out, the headstock oiler is almost as bad, if left for a couple of days it is empty, this is on a super 7 with the little oiler on the front, not the sight glass ml7 type. John I believe the countershaft oil cups are a press fit, try wiggling them sideways with a pair of pliers.

Baz,

How much clearance have you got on the front bronze taper bearing? If set to the correct point it should not loose much, I only loose it slightly when in use.

If the top ones drain they can only loose it by dripping onto the sloping casting below in the case of the right hand one and similar for the left hand one + some loss belind the main drive pulley.

Kwil can you tell me how much clearance I should have? I have read all the information on adjusting the bearing but with the belts slack how much resistance should I have with when trying to rotate say a four inch chuck, should the front bearing run warm or not, I assume mine is a little on the slack side although I have no problems of poor finish or chatter etc and it parts off fine, just drinks a fair bit of oil.

Well I pulled the oiler out - it is a push fit as Baz sais. Looking into the hole, the bearing bush appears to be bronze and has another hole in it through which the shaft is visible (silver as opposed to bronze colour. But the hole in the bronze doesn't line up with the oiler hole - it's about 50% obscured. So it looks like that this is not an oilite bearing at alllike the manual says but a plain bush. I'm going to replace the oil cup with an oil nipple so I can force oil into it to make sure it's got enough.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I had exactly the same issue with my Super 7 - hardly any oil loss on the LH bearing and rapid loss on the R. I stripped down the countershaft assembly and found no measurable wear on the shaft and no signs of scoring. I replaced both bearings and drilled the oil holes in line with the oilers. The RH bearing still uses oil like it was going out of fashion. The bushes are sintered bronze and will retain a fair bit of oil so I've stopped worrying. Although the LH oil cup doesn't use much, the thrust race was well oiled when I stripped it so clearly enough oil is getting through to keep everything happy. Rapid oil flow through the RH bearing just seems to be a feature of the design.

I could never figure out why the need for the hole in a sintered bearing. Isn't the whole point that it retains oil. Putting a hole through it just bypasses the bush. I replaced my bushes in my last Myford 'sans orifice' and had no problems. Had less oil splattering around too.

regards Martin

I couldn't see the point either - the bushes are oilite - but I thought if Myford did it I probably should, and that was the consensus here too, so I did drill the bushes. I rather wish now that I hadn't - Myford's total loss lubrication is a bit messy at the best of times.

OK, many thanks for the comments. I do think that the shaft is freer now I've forced some oil in and it runs somewhat quieter on the high speed range (worrying really!). There's still an annoying quite loud "throbbing" noise when it's running at high speed, coming from the general layshaft area.

May well be the belt, is it a link belt ?