Oil wick

I need some replacement oil wicks for my Pultra does anyone know of a place/ supplier that sells such a thing , I have been told that lighter wicks would work but I don’t want to strip the headstock until I am sure I have suitable replacement, has anyone got a picture of said wicks.

thanks in advance Dell

Have a look for oil lamp wicks they come in all shapes and sizes, can be unravelled to suit your needs, plenty on the internet sites.

MichaelR

Try a craft shop for candle wick, comes in different sizes and could be twisted to make a large one ! Noel.

I used pipe cleaners in the oil-cups on all the lube points on my Alba shaper - works very well. The wire in the cleaner permits easy shaping of the wick, if needed.

Joe

Thanks for replying everyone Joseph Noci 1 I understand the wicks go round the bearings then down a hole to the oil , in that case would not the wire in a pipe cleaner damage the spindle?

Dell

Dell,

Not familiar with your specific needs/setup - wick lubricators I am familiar with sit atop the bearing or slide, with a hole down to the lubricated surface. A wick sits in the oil bath in the lubricator, and in a U bend goes up then down into the bearing/slide lube hole. The wick does not touch the moving surface -

What Pultra do you have?

A typical Wick Lubricator for lathe bearings

Joe

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These may help:

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MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 30/10/2022 10:56:10

For those who admired the Muncaster watercolour recently posted by Jason

Here is a Pultra headstock, featuring the wick, for you to colour !

MichaelG.

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Myford use wicks on the headstock ,they would be able to supply there wick which may be altered to suit your needs.

Frank

Heritage Steam Supplied do the Worstead wool for oilers and details of use

Is there a prize? I offer:

And:

And

Dave

No,the wicks do not go round the bearings. The wicks come up from the oil to the bearings. (It might help to know which model you have)

dave8

Edited By david bennett 8 on 30/10/2022 15:52:20

With only one entrant for the unadvertised colouring competition

S.O.D. might have won … But unfortunately he failed to clearly identify the wick, so is disqualified.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 30/10/2022 16:10:06

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Hint: **LINK**

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/albums/member_album.asp?a=56494

MichaelG.

Thanks once again for replies my Pultra is the 17/70 according to the manual that I have and someone has posted above it goes round the bearings then down a hole to oil and to be careful not to sever them.

Dell

Recommended Reading: **LINK**

http://cm1cm2.ceyreste.free.fr/pultra_1770.html

… or at least have a look at the pictures.

MichaelG.

Text from the relevant section … Translation by Google

…………………………………

The lathe being reassembled: we can see the belt on the right, and in the middle the oil reserve of the spindle bearings:

Detail of the two braided cotton strands that raise the oil to the bearings:

Small glass lens that allows you to monitor the oil level in the crankcase:

Replacement of cotton braids with felt strands, more suitable for the rise of oil in the bearings:

……………………………………

MichaelG.

Take off the inspection plates on the headstock. That should show you the oil reservoir. You should see the wicks leading up to the bearings.

dave8

Edited By david bennett 8 on 30/10/2022 16:42:23

I use thick knitting PURE wool it MUST not have any synthetic fibre in it, on all of my stationary engines requiring wicks,it was common practice years ago to use brass wire to support the wick as brass will not cause any damage should it come in contact with the rotating spindle. Some years ago wicks used on locomotives were not feeding oil and it was found that the wool had a proportion of synthetic wool in it, if the bearing got too warm the synthetic content melted and ran in amongs the natural wool ,blocked up the strands and stopped feeding oil,it gets expensive with white metal bearings, There is some info on the web about how to make wicks., just a case of searching.One thing I have found that natural sheeps wool spun at home did not feed as well as pure knitting wool,never found out why.

Hi Dell,

There are several different types of wick oiler although they a run by capillary action.

The one linked to by Joseph uses a plain metal wire loop to lift oil up out of a cup and drip it down onto the top of a spindle surface through an oil hole in the bearing. The flow is metered by the wire thickness. It sounds far-fetched but it does work.

Another used on full sized engines uses worsted wool to lift oil in the same manner. Flow is metered by the number of strands of wool in the oil.

Yours seems to use cotton to lift oil out of a sump through the pear shaped hole (Michael's link after the first spindle photo) in the bottom of the bearing to touch the splndle. The oil should then be pulled off the end of the wick by rotation and the shallow groove will distribute it across the whole bearing.

If you try to turn the wick 90 deg and spread it across the groove I would expect a jam to happen at some point.

I had a lathe with a felt wiper that ran for the whole width of the bearing, but that was set in a slot cut right through the bearing surface and not a shallow depression.