Did I Accidently Just Fix The Lathe?

[@johnbraun6552]

It might be a good idea to replace the oil drain on the gear box with a valve that you could slip a piece of hose onto. Then to drain it,, slip on the hose and open the valve.

[@buildingsalvage]

Fumoto drains for Car and truck motors are what I’ve always used

[@minigpracing3068]

I was just about to suggest a valve with hose barb. The easier it is to change the oil, the more often it gets done.

[@DodgyBrothersEngineering]

Was thinking the same thing a tap and a hose.

[@cjm5002]

As long as there is something to catch the flakes and chunks or they just sludge up the valve. Ask me how I found out >.> Thankfully a 2" magnet on the outside of the box before the drain port solved the issue but its still a PITA to get to the bottom and wipe the chips out.

[@buzzlightyear2490]

Iv got the same machine, I use a vacuum oil detractor, all macanic have them, I also used 2 magnets 🧲 to 1 each side, to change the oil, I vacuum out the old, then half fill her with methodlated spirits, put the lid back in and run her for 20 seconds, then open the lid then vacuum it all out dry, I do repeat the process twice, then use acidatain, pouring over all the gears and walls, then vacuum out all of it which leave fums coming from it, I then use a small tourch then for a split second, tiny small flush, what this does is leaves all the walls and gears completely clean as as even the gears are so shiny, O yes I pulled the magnet out first before doing any of this, this machine I use 140 diff oil, this machine requires 400ml of oil, I put in 470ml of oil, there no mess or bleeds at this amount of oil, the lathe is so quiet iv been talking on the phone with no issues from the gear box sound as when I first received her. Use 140 diff oil, it makes all the different in the world.

[@MrReichennek]

Using thicker oil on stuff like this is absolutely fine, you'll just generate a bit more heat, as long as your gear box isn't getting like hot hot, you're fine.

[@DH-xw6jp]

I makes me chuckle seeing just how much you have committed to the Hacksaw bit.

[@gyrogearloose1345]

Well personally - I am in awe!

[@besssam]

Professional mechanical engineer here. Only reason ISO oil was recommended in your manual is because of cost and availability. Bear in mind, your machine was made in Taiwan or China where cost is a focus. Go with differential oils, they have Extreme Pressure EP additives that actually protect gears and bearings. They are also thicker generally so they provide damping that reduces noise. I would stay away from ISO oils.

[@D3nn1s]

Thats what i was thinking, whats good enough to power the diff of a 2 ton car is good enough for a mini lathe. As a cnc machinist it sounded so much better as well! As long as everything is metal temp shouldnt be a huge concern, depending on the accuracy you want to achieve. But i doubt this lathe will run 24/7 anyways so itll be just fine.

[@besssam]

​@@D3nn1s yes. The only downsides to diff oils are : a-they attack yellow metals b-the garlicky smell can be overwhelming to some people. So a good second alternative is GL4 gear oils. They contain 50% less phosphorus than diff oils. So they are less smelly and they don't attack yellow metals as much

[@D3nn1s]

@@besssam cool, thanks for the additional pieces of information

[@pieterprinsloo5239]

I have been running my chinese lathe with a 80W90 GL5 gearbox oil for the past 10 years without any problems from the gears or bearings in the headstock, it did reduce the noise but it will never be as silent as a premuim lathe. I learnt to live with it 🙂

[@zlatkobobic5029]

Like i do 😂

[@Chromevulcan]

Here's a tip you're probably not going to like. I have an old Pratt & Whitney from 1955, and yes it was loud like yours. But, since I used to operate submarines for the US Navy I knew exactly how to deal with it. You take the gear box apart, and one by one, you stone the teeth down on each gear until they are as smooth as glass, then you reassemble it. The smoother mating surfaces of the teeth will not only quiet the gear noise, but will also increase longevity. It's a pain, but it's something you can do any time, I even did some while I sat on the couch with my wife.

[@TalRohan]

I am still not used to this specified different oils for different gears, in my world as long as its not an engine or drive train for a vehicle, I put in the thickness of oil that works best for the gears, even resorting to a generous dollop molybdenum disulphide in some cases. I have only had one gearbox screw up on me and that got rained in which rotted all the bearings..the gears themselves are fine but I'm still trying to get the bearings apart a couple of years after starting that replacement job. I'm suitably impressed with the DRO thats a good one. I never would have thought that calipers would be case hardened....but then Ive never cut any up (sacrilage lol) I'm glad you got the gearbox a good bit quieter , well done. Thanks for sharing

[@stephenbridges2791]

If you want to quiet your lathe even further, put an engine oil treatment in it. STP, Lucas, etc. Use about 5%~10% by total volume. It's one of the few things an oil treatment is actually good at. It will also lengthen the longevity of the gears. It is a common practice in the shops I worked in, through the years.

[@DodgyBrothersEngineering]

I was thinking Morey's, but the right one will definitely help reduce wear and noise.

[@KentRigby]

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! The scale on my mini lathe tailstock is not well designed. the MM scale is on the front of the quill and barely legible, and the Inch scale is even lower on the quill (kind of 'below the horizon') and not really visible unless I use a mirror or something. This is exactly what I need and so easy! You are my hero! I love your videos!

[@aarondcmedia9585]

Wow the difference in sound with your final oil selection was remarkable.

[@kiwishamoo6494]

Perhaps consider sticking a large magnet to the bottom to capture any metal that's circulating...

[@darnoc4470]

Use an extra large magnet if you think it lacks circulating metal though.

[@patricksawesomeprobarly3331]

Does that actually work? I heard it wasn’t true.

[@xsbiggy6349]

​@patricksawesomeprobarly3331 it certainly does work. You'll find most vehicles have magnets on the oil and transmission pans, some rear diffs even have them

[@artisanmakes]

It currently has a magnetic oil drain plug that I think I nicked off a motor bike. Really does make a difference

[@j.f.christ8421]

@@patricksawesomeprobarly3331 Most of the wear is on steel parts (bearings, shafts etc so the magnet will grab those just fine. If you've got aluminium alloy floating around in there then a magnet won't help, but you've probably got bigger problems.

[@PorchPotatoMike]

The hacksaw on the blister pack was pretty funny!

[@bluebanana6753]

I have the same lathe, just the 700mm version thats 3 fase (still a 750w motor). Also came with dro and quichange toolhead. It's loud and it sometimes sound less and sometimes more. I installed a drain hose for the headstock (just to be able to easily change the oil). I change oil more often than the manual says and use thicker gear oil (gear oil is made to let go of metal and not hold it like engine oil that uses a filter) I also installed magnets to catch all the shit. The casting is really rough, and unless you dump 3 cans of brakeclean in it you wont get out all the grimy stuff. The magnets catch almost all of it. There's also some stuff to watch out for. If the taper pin for the leadscrew cones put a bit it can hit tge carriage. That in turn will break the cast keyed holders for the gears in the back. The wheel for the crosslide can hit the dro scale in certain settings (which i think you mounted even higher than mine is). You can just turn it down to clear it. The bed is fairly easy to dent in my experience (but mine is also older so they might have fixed it). There's more but cant really think of it now.

[@butterdubs2267]

3 phase

[@stevesfascinations1516]

Hello from Canada! Loved your video as always. You have a real knack at describing, and showing very interesting machining. I love it! I am retired and slowly picking up on machining, you are helping me in my endevours - thank you!

[@Alberto-rn7vi]

automotive tech here Gear oil is absolutely the way to go for your lathe, as the name says its made for exactly your usecase and the additive package should prolonge the life of the gearbox just dont use engine oil as its meant to keep particles in suspension. As for viscosity 90 weight gear oil is about the same as 40 to 60 weight engine oil and between 150 and 220 iso depending on the temperature

[@grantbaker3336]

The detergents in engine oils are there to keep the products of combustion in suspension they will not keep any heavier metallic particles in suspension, the real issue with using engine oils in an application like this is that the detergents will absorb moisture and this can lead to corrosion as working temperatures are never likely to become high enough to release that trapped moisture as would be the case in an engine. As you correctly point out modern 90 grade gear oils have a viscosity of SAE 50 and they are in actual fact a performance equivalent of the older SAE 90 oils but designed to reduce drag and therefore reduce emissions.

[@dazaspc]

Machine tool tech here Youre spot on mostly, the only thing you need to be cautious about in a vented splash lube gear box is the creation of foam with the oil. Foamy oil causes lubrication issues with roller bearings. Start temp plays a huge role with oil selection. With oil that is to heavy it wont get to the bearings fast enough upon start. Considering the stop/Start frequency of a lathe VS a Cars powertrain. Any hobby style lathe wont be running all the time with a clutched headstock so the spec always errs on the side of caution.

[@samimas4343]

Is gear oil the same as car transmission oil?

[@dazaspc]

@@samimas4343 No

[@robertpearson8798]

@@samimas4343 It was in my 1971 Land Rover but that was a long time ago.

[@gyrogearloose1345]

That's great! And I like your firm approach to opening the blister pack around the callipers. Also I'm very impressed with your hard work with the hacksaw - I gave up on that approach many years ago when I got a bandsaw, and an angle grinder as well. Thanks for sharing! Good fortune on all your projects!

[@MF175mp]

85W-140 for example would be a thicker gear oil. Kinematic viscosity at 40°C is 333 mm²/s. There are still much thicker oils as well but if you go too thick, the headstock starts to warm up too much. You want to minimize the heat in a machine tool spindle for accuracy.

[@artisanmakes]

I was half tempted to chuck buy it and see what it would do, but I did think it was going to be a bit too thick. I’ve heard of lathes running iso 150 and similar oils, but I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone using 85w-140. Cheers

[@KW-ir5mf]

Your videos are always food for thought. I think that "usually hydraulic fluid" in gear boxes is from lathes that use the same fluid for hydraulics in driving everything from auto-feed to coolant pumps. Of course I've been wrong on many counts. The thing about gears (fixed not change gears) is that for gears that are odd to even will always be in constant positional flux. No worries. But for gears that have the same number of teeth each and are never changed out, will wear a pattern. Depending upon the ratio, that pattern might be a straight 2:1 or 4:1 or a spirograph image. Sometimes the factory will lap gears last before final assembly to make sure they mesh well. If you mess with that alignment like a [40|80] gear-set you get noise. So I learned to check (spinning or counting) gears for odd even combinations else I mark them so they match when it goes back together. That way it doesn't sound worse than before I worked on it. LOL. 😆

[@boots7859]

Easiest cheap fix for loud gearbox is a nice set of BT noise cancelling headphones. Also, either wire in an physical on/off switch or add a small 2x AAA battery/box. Most of the cheap gauges turn off the LCD but remain on and will drain after a month or so.

[@DH-xw6jp]

That helps the user, but not so much the video. But that would be a perfect solution for anyone that isn't a content creator.

[@richb419]

HI, I have a Grizzly Chinese geared head lathe that was making an exceptional amount of noise right out of the box. I pulled the cover off and could not believe my eyes. it was full of metal chips from manufacture. this lathe was supposed to have premium SKF bearings and machining debris was in them! I cleaned as much out as I could and placed magnets in the bottom of the gear box. it is about 5 years old now and still makes disturbing sounds. I think the 80-90 gear oil is a good idea I used that in my milling machine, and it is far quieter than it was new. Rich

[@mgnbukint6502]

Splash lubrication systems rely on the oil hitting the top cover to then run the oil down the gearbox walls to lubricate the bearings. Some makers cast a "pent roof" shape into the underside of the lid to encourage the oil to do this. It may be prudent to temporarily fit a perspex lid to ensure that your thicker oil gets flung such that it hits the underside of the lid & runs down the walls - thick oils tend to cling to the rotating gears rather than fling. Thick oils also take more power to move around the gearbox - putting a simple houshold power monitor into the socket before the lathe to monitor the motor current would show (in back-to-back tests) how much more power the heavier gear oil absorbs than the original hydraulic oil. One method of quietening noisy gearboxes (in the UK at least) was to add a compound called "Timesaver" lapping powder. This was added to the gearbox oil & the machine cycled under load in all the gears. Unlike carborundum or silicon carbide powders, Timesaver has a limited working life & breaks down into an inert compound that is flushed out after use with an oil change. Seems all wrong to put a lapping compound into your gearbox, but the product was specifically designed for the purpose and has been used for decades. Ultimately the noise is probably the result of the gearbox being built down to a price rather than up to a standard. At the 5 minute mark in the video the sliding gear shown being shifted looks very loose on it's spline - a loose fit makes for easy assembly, but not for quiet running & would not be a simple fix. Add in straight cut gears that will most likely have had no surface treatment after hobbing (like shaving or grinding) and have large clearances to ensure easy assembly & you have a recipe for a noisy box. Thicker oil just helps fill the gaps to reduce the rattling. You gets what you pays for - premium lathes are expensive for a reason !

[@Beaut1fulChaos]

I like that the squareness of the tailstock bracket matches the squareness of the tailstock. 👍

[@Dogfather66227]

Two thoughts about the lathe oil segment: 1) You might consider pumping or siphoning out the old oil or flush. Typically the oil drain hole will not allow you to drain the entire sump. 2) Monitor the temperature of your oil and particularly your spindle bearings, especially if running high RPMs with higher viscosity lubricants. Editorial comment: My lathe is of similar construction to yours (gearhead, etc.). I offer that the largest single improvement I’ve made to it is to replace the OEM drive motor with a 3-phase unit + VFD. It’s much smoother and more powerful, plus I have the ability to do electronic braking. I run ISO 32 oil in it incidentally. Thanks for posting the tailstock DRO segment. Very useful for me since I’m looking to use a similar design. Looking forward to next project videos.

[@billdoodson4232]

I have just bought a 3/8" BSP street elbow, full flow ball valve and blank plug along with a 3/8" hose adapter for when I change the oil next week. I'll fit the ball valve to the female end of the street coupling with Loctite Thread Sealer and make sure the valve is shut. Pull out the existing drain plug, and screw in the street coupling with the valve, I can do this on my lathe, I'll then fit the hose adapter and hose and drain the head stock straight to the waste container. When its filled up again, I'll take the hose adapter out and put the plug in to the valve instead of the hose adapter, to prevent draining should the valve open by itself from vibration.

[@buzzlightyear2490]

Iv got the same lathe, yours is AL-250 mines a AL-290, Mine is 700 between center instead of 500 between. The noise from the gearbox was the same too, iv drain cleaned out gearbox, and replaced the oil to a diff 140 straight oil, it took a little time to adjust the oil levels just rigth so that oil didn't over spill and to keep lathe sound smooth running. Iv use other oils but decided to try diff oil 140 straight, it worked amazing. Since running her, for over 100 hours, i took the lid off to see how the oil has reacted, it still looks brand new. It runs so quite, talking on the phone is perfect too.

[@otterconnor942]

ATF or manual transmission oil may be an interesting thing to look into. From what I can see is they live in the same range of viscosity as what you said you were looking for. If you use a valve on the oil drain plug, and tube it down into a covered bucket, you can quickly change your gearbox oil and save the oil for cutting fluid.

[@gorak9000]

ATF is very thin - probably too thin to use on it's own in this application. Gear oil is definitely a better choice.

[@MrBricks148]

If you're making a lot of the counter bored parts, you might want to look into getting a Udrill, even a small one at 20mm. Mount it in the tool post and you can rough the hole and Counterbore with the power feed with a single tool.

[@joansparky4439]

smallest u-drills are 10mm I think?

[@camillosteuss]

Dude, just get a 90 bend brass ball-valve for the drain and replace the solid plug... You can pipe a diesel flex pipe to the valve and voila, you can drain directly into a tub or wherever you want to drain the oil, and you never have to fiddle with anything again, other than flipping the valve handle open and closed when you need to deal with oil... Also, consider getting automotive gearbox teflon additive... You can get small tubes of teflon additive, i use it instead of way oil on the feedscrews and similar things, as well as in the car gearbox, but it is thick as shit, almost 00 grade grease of sorts, and it does wonders both in regards to lubrication and sound muffling... If the gears or whatever system you are lubing accepts 75W oil, teflon additive will do good... Just don`t mix it with way oil as i`m not sure about additive pack reactions and interference... But a headstock that runs an oil bath can use gearbox oil and the additive with perfect grace... Gearbox oils are non-detergent and only have at best some anti-wear additives, so adding teflon works wonders... Again as said, it is a great straight lubricant as well, using it for specific systems like nuts and feed-shaft plain bearings/similar... Best regards! Steuss

[@keithwhitehead4897]

I have had to pull the covers off my Hafco AL-54B, one of the gears for the horizontal feed was not meshing. I asked the local agents and they told me to use ISO 46 hydraulic oil for the lathe...

[@gavinmole1752]

From memory ISO is hydraulic oil ratings. SAE oil is automotive oil ratings. On my old hafco lathe the same, I had to run SAE 140 and some wheel bearing grease for the noise and vibration in the cutting.

[@ianday38]

I think the clue was on the bottle...gear oil. I'm sure the gearbox in your lathe is not made to the same tolerance as your average car gearbox and has nothing like the load so I would have thought very ordinary gear oil would be ideal. I've been planning the same tailstock mod on my little old lathe. Very simple solution 👍

[@thosoz3431]

My lathe uses a splash system to lube the head stock bearings. This means that after any period of non use those bearings start dry. I use a small aquarium pump in the sump and some clear hose held with neodymium magnets to lubricate those bearings now. The lathe runs quieter.

[@jonathanlarsen4177]

I had this idea with a pump for a while now, it's crazy to me that there is so little about it online. I was thinking about those drill pumps that could be connected by a belt from the main motor. It would drain spindle power but also be reliable.

[@rjung_ch]

Looking forward to the next few weeks, I enjoyed this one as well. Cheers 👍💪✌

[@jollyrodgerfabrication]

For what it's worth, I'm a service technician and an amateur machinist. dif's take a lot of stress, and I feel like it's way more than that lathe can handle. As long as the pump can handle the flow I'd run it. We used to throw that in old manual gear boxes to quite them up. Lucas quiets it up too.

[@vincei4252]

Hey, I can tell that it sounds different from all the way over here 😆 Good job.

[@RalfyCustoms]

Happy days mate 🎉 yeah gear oil is perfect 8n that headstock, and nicely done on the quill dro, have a great one 👍

[@MrCrankyface]

I have a very similar lathe (bl-250G) and I find that opening the top lid and sucking out the oil is far easier. Saves having to remove the back cover etc. Found a 500ml "syringe" on amazon with replaceable hose for cheap, makes a lot of stuff like this a lot more enjoyable.

[@artisanmakes]

Thanks for the idea. Just wondering, what type of oil do you use and is the noise as bad as mine? Cheers

[@MrCrankyface]

@@artisanmakes At first I used some generic gearbox oil, which seemed quite runny/low viscosity. I think it was supplied with the lathe when I bought it a few years ago. That oil gave me a similar result as you've had i.e loud from the start and then just getting louder over time. I drained the oil after a while and refilled with the same, plenty of cloudy stuff floating around in the oil both times. After that I swapped to ISO46 hydraulic oil which the oil manufacturer recommended for medium loaded gearbox(whatever medium in this application means...). The ISO46 made it quite a bit less noisy but definitely not pleasant to be around once you go above 900-ish RPM. Even at extended running at 2000rpm (1600rpm gear and VFD overspeed) it does not get especially warm, you can easily rest your hand, comfortably, at any place. I'm tempted to try some SAE140 but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[@SuperGrover]

I have a larger but similar lathe that had the same issue. 2 speeds were particularly bad, both on the same shaft. The problem was bearings. They're rubbish and they're just bashed in at install . Replaced bearings, problem fixed. Thick oil just hides the problem. I did my geared mill and it fixed that too. Let me know if you would like info on bearing replacement and I'll knock something together. But it's bearings.

[@CheffBryan]

I always leave these videos feeling better when I hear something made you chuffed

[@roelrobbers7004]

Before taking the gearbox apart, first check if there still are metal particles in the oil. It might well be that the low viscosity oil caused excessive wear on the teeth. Especially when taking heavy cuts the pressure on the teeth flanks can break the oil film of a low viscosity oil. Remember that car gearboxes never have straight teethed gears (except older ones perhaps for the reverse only). Nice videos, keep it up :-)😊

[@julias-shed]

Thanks for the tip on oil I’ll try some 80W90 gear box oil in my RF40 mill gearbox because that is really loud 😀

[@dquad]

I believe I run Castrol VMX in my geared head mill, no complaints about noise or damage yet

[@t0mn8r35]

Good project and the lathe sounds heaps better and if you want elegant then go to Paris...

[@pauljcampbell2997]

My outlook on this is, the best lathe is the one you've got!

[@wizrom3046]

If you are in Australia there is a great product called Lucas Transmission Fix, comes in a 700ml bottle and is a clear red. It works like magic it makes the oil cling to the gears and really quietens up any gear noise, and is a fantastic oil additive to mix in with gearbox oils like 2/3 normal oil and 1/3 Lucas. I used it for many years on old Harley gearboxes then realised how good it is in the workshop. Awesome for lathe change gears which are always noisy. It's not just to stop noise, it helps always keep a film of oil on gear teeth so it greatly reduces any metal to metal wear. It is a fantastic workshop lube too, think of it somewhere between an oil and a grease, you can use it for either job it is a really thick clingy red oil.

[@fna-wrightengineering]

I'm curious how often you'll need to remove the tailstock DRO. I use a similar clamp arrangement on my mini lathe tailstock, and the only time it's in the way, is when I need to use my live center... It tends to get in the way of the toolpost. However, I just loosen the scale clamp on the quill, so the quill can extend/retract while the clamp stays against the tailstock body. I think you should be able to do the same kind of thing. If you decide to make the tailstock DRO a permanent fixture, I'd highly recommend swapping the modified calipers out for an actual glass scale, similar to the ones you have for your carriage and cross slide. You'd have to upgrade your display to a 3-axis (or switch to TouchDRO, which I can't recommend highly enough), but having all the same functionality for the tailstock, as the other axes, is a welcome addition. You could even go a step further, and add a read head to the tailstock body. It would use the same scale as the Z-axis. For this to work, you would need to sum the new read head with the quill readout... M-DRO sells a summing interface that works a treat for this (TouchDRO has 4 inputs, and does the summing itself) Having both scales on the tailstock means that you never lose your tailstock readout position. You can move the whole tailstock to clear chips, and still have position when you push it back into the work. I've done this on my mini-lathe, and it's awesome (I made a video series on it).

[@aeroderek]

Get some construction grade hole saws to start your larger boring head ops. Pretty cheap and should work fine on aluminum. My Milwaukee set has drive dogs instead of just a thread and optional pilot drill on the arbor

[@MCsCreations]

Awesome work, dude! Nicely done! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@thedolphin5428]

Whenever I have any oil queries, I always ring Penrite Tech Support. Always been *GREAT* information and product options. If you really want to go thick, try chainsaw bar oil. It is "sticky", which keeps it on the gears and it "climbs" to the top of the cogs and into crevices when hit or cold. And if all else fails, you could do the old banana-skins-in-the-gear box trick... which was the way to quieten dodgy car gearboxes before you sold the car!!!

[@simonilett998]

Piston Air Compressor oil is ISO100 spec, and you can buy it in 1L or 5L bottles. I have several 5L bottles, I bought it from CAPS Australia, they do all sorts of air compressor and pneumatic stuff.👍

[@one4stevo]

Big difference. I got a Hercus 260G. I use iso 68, for an old gear head lathe she runs pretty quiet i must say.

[@MyLilMule]

You might want to check the preload on the spindle bearings before deciding to replace them. They may need to be tightened and could make a small difference.

[@gorak9000]

That squeaky sound also comes up in single phase motors on small Grizzly lathes too - probably the same chinese motors. I think it has to do with the centrifugal start switch - it only squeaks at "hand rotation" type speeds. I replaced the motor on mine with a 3phase motor and a vfd for easy speed changes - never bothered to take the original motor apart to figure out what's squeaking

[@CoolIdeasDIY-qv1nz]

Great video, colleague👍👍👍

[@injoelsgarage3934]

DRO Nicely done.

[@chrismayer8990]

3:03 Absolutely elegant! 👍

[@Bob_Adkins]

I think manufacturers often call for hydraulic oil because it's less damaging to plastic, rubber, and silicone parts and seals, not because it's better for metal gears, bearings, and shafts.

[@EddieTheGrouch]

I have a Smithy 3-in-1 and the tailstock travel is minuscule. I could not afford to lose any of it. Rather than a fixed collar for the rare need taking up space I formed the caliper end into an "L" pointed toward the quill with a thin rare earth magnet slapped on so it sits behind whatever tool being used. When I need the scale I simply slide it up to the tool, the magnet grabs, and I zero it out. I also consider the tailstock extension mod one of the most useful things I have done to the machine. I think you can see it mounted at the start of my "Air hose end repair using PEX crimp rings" video.

[@joansparky4439]

not visible in that video.. scanned over it.

[@EddieTheGrouch]

@@joansparky4439 from about 25 seconds in through 5:00 minutes. Right hand side under the lamp. Not shown in use, just a visual aid.

[@PuchMaxi]

Hey Eddie, are you going to make more video's in the future? I'm still subscribed!

[@joansparky4439]

yeah, no, I was looking for this: _"I also consider the _*_tailstock extension mod_*_ one of the most useful things I have done to the machine."_ Should have wrote what I meant. Mea culpa.

[@Metalheadmachine24]

I love these videos. The mini machines are neat.

[@advil000]

I went down this rabbit hole for my new big gear head lathe a few months ago, let me filter down a week of reading and searching for you: Actual machine tool oil (circulating oil) is what is needed. Not regular "hydraulic oil." Never car oil as detergents and other additives can damage bronze or brass bushings and also even worse regular oils suspend foreign material and keep it suspended to carry it away like to a filter which a lathe gearbox doesn't have. You want exactly the opposite, you want your lathe to drop out particulates out to the bottom of the box and leave them there and that requires completely different oil. "Gear oil" is also not what you are looking for it is for vehicle and heavy industrial gear boxes and has the wrong additives. The name sends you on a wild goose chase. Check out this page from Mobil and be sure to scroll down to the bottom it shows the names and what ISO grade it equates to. I had a talk with my lathe manufacturer about this, and this is the proper actual stuff. Other company's make it, but Mobile's chart will provide a gold standard. The lathe manufacturer will specify the optimum viscosity... but "Heavy Medium" is ISO 68 and "Heavy" is 100. If you go way out of spec and the oil is way too heavy it may not splash as intended inside the box and most importantly in through the spindle bearings and get into everything as designed, but I doubt that'll be much trouble with yours it's a small gearbox. And FYI, my lathe got much quieter with it, rather than whatever the factory sent in it. Also, when your lathe manual says 30wt oil... or some really confusing thing like that, they do NOT mean car oil weights. You have to find a conversion chart online to convert that to an ISO standard and then pick a circulating oil that meets that standard. There has been a misconception forever and ever when manuals call out only a weight that they mean 30wt car oil. They DO NOT.

[@keithammleter3824]

The mean reason for detergents in engine oils is to assist the dispersant additive to prevent clumping of combustion carbon that gets past the piston rings. There's no combustion in a lathe, so a detergent in the oil is not going to do anything useful, but it will do no harm.

[@guitarchitectural]

Get a full DRO and a quick change tool post. Then you can do all your drilling on the carriage and the DRO is there waiting to be used! That's what I have done and it's a dream. Granted I do production work without too much accuracy so I can get away with a lot of tool changes and no fancy setups to preserve in the tool holder!

[@asvarien]

Cool stuff.

[@frostbitevinnie]

I wonder for oil if a motorcycle oil would work. My KTM 690 has a gear box and the oil I use is motoex 10-60 fully synthetic. My change intervals with this oil is 6300 miles. Maybe?

[@monkeysausageclub]

Nice work pal. Just remember to remove the battery from those calipers. They are known for draining batteries even when turned off.

[@jameslarson6555]

Your well deserved nickname should be ‘’Hacksaw”! Excellent video

[@rusty_restorations36]

typically you use the heaviest oil you can get away with. based on horsepower and temperature range. thick oil creates friction sorta, but since you’re in a warm climate (heated shop) it’ll be fine. Plus those stright cut gears will significantly benefit from the additives in real gear oil.

[@tas32engineering]

Viscosity well done.

[@philipzielinski]

Hacksaw for everything now! 😂😂

[@MiniLuv-1984]

Its the gym workout.

[@1crazypj]

Looks like a miniature copy of a Colchester? Does it have an oil pump built in to spray oil around? You should have oil around 1/3 up lowest gear, when it's running oil will be thrown up so gear will not be constantly running in oil causing frothing. Lightweight gear oil is a great choice, I used 75/90 multi-grade when I had Colchester lathe

[@willemvantsant5105]

Max at Swan Valley Machine Shop made a valid point a few months ago regarding putting heavier oil in the headstock, it may cause the spindle bearing rollers to slide instead of rotating, something to consider.

[@stuartruss7536]

Correct, you can go to heavy, especially if it does not get hot enough for it to flow

[@artisanmakes]

Right so, did he mention at what point that may become an issue. Because I do know that iso 150 oils are used in some lathes.

[@anothermidlifecrisis]

Drop/fix a rare earth magnet into the sump. More viscous oil will leave those metal particles suspended for longer and drag them back up into the gears advancing wear. That is why they recommend such a light oil.

[@abpsd73]

I'm not sure where it would wind up as far as viscosity, but a lot of automotive manual transmissions use ATF, so that could be an option.

[@boots7859]

ATF fluid is very thin, worst thing to put in gearboxes outside of auto trans.

[@Festivejelly]

I think the VFD motor lathes are a decent compromise. They can run slow with a decent amount of torque.

[@Ro-ni7nm]

Your a brave man to climb cut on a mini mill mate🤣Keep up the good work

[@williamwalsh1399]

I changed the oil in my colchester colt with a heavier oil and a Lucas oil additive. I then ran the lathe for a extended period and the noise got worse with a high pitched whine and the headstock heated up. Tuns out with the tight tolerance of the bearings the oil was too thick. Changed the oil for the correct grade of hydraulic oil and it was fine. I still have the click in low speed range so i have a slightly damaged tooth on one of the gears.

[@dazaspc]

The reason why such a light oil is specified for the gearbox is bearing lubrication mostly. That and the drip feed lube for the gear train. It is about the inital lubrication on start. In Australia where it is a rare occurrance for the temp to dip below 5c thicker oil isnt that much of a big deal. The Zinc additive in the diff oil will help with the Iron thrust faces on things like the gear selector and should prevent the discolouration and most importantly the wear. As for oil volume in that style of gearbox {No dedicated pump or dedicated drip gutters and no clutch to turn of and on} the optimal oil level is about 1/3rd the way up the lowest always spinning gear. When in operation it will create a storm of oil inside the box that should be adequate. Also a bit surprised that as you have a DRO fitted to the carriage and a power feed you didnt just mount your tooling in the turret. Holds it wat better than the Morse taper and with the power feed would give a better finish with improved tool life. If you are going to strip the gearbox get some oil resistant paint for it. The idea is that it seals the surface of the gearbox and other iron components preventing them from holding oil and debris also preventing them from releasing sand used in their casting process. The corse finish will be holding sand inside it. A normal feature with lathes of professional standard.

[@fuhrermk92]

0:32 i love this brand because CEE has the same brand but milling machine.

[@TheWeekendWoodshop]

I think you'll have much better luck finding the ISO 150 oil than the 100. I found a five gallon bucket of the 150 here in the states for about $130 and if it stacks up even close to how the differential oil sounded that will be money WELL spent.

[@Mike40M]

Just for fun did some measurements on my lookalike lathe. Just running at different speed without cutting. 0 rpm 35 to 40 dBA. 80 rpm 62 dBA. 710 rpm 71 dBA. 1600 rpm 81 dBA. Never thought it noisy. Done with a semi professional sound meter.

[@droppedpasta]

Good stuff. I liked the DRO

[@melgross]

It’s It’s interesting about oil recommendations. Most lathe gearboxes use 68 weight oil. That includes some very heavy lathes. Just be very careful to never use any auto oil that has detergents as they will corrode the lathe. Additionally, some of those oils have additives designed for hot engines, such as copper, nickel and others, which are bad for machinery. Lathe and other machine manuals will warn, very explicitly, to never use these oils. Of course, manuals for cheaper machines may not bother about the warnings. Remember about the calipers, that they aren’t accurate. They may read down to a half thou, or to two hundredths of a mm, but the actual accuracy is maybe, if you’re lucky, on off brands, +- two thousandths, or equivalent. Some are just +- three thousandths. Even most good brands are just +-1.5 thousandths, or for their most expensive models, +- one thousandths. If that doesn’t matter…

[@jackfrost1031]

Was the engine oil you used SAE 30 non detergent? See if you can find SAE 40 ND. That should be similar to ISO 150 for viscosity and also won’t suspend the contaminants like a normal motor oil.

[@injoelsgarage3934]

Bingo! You nailed it!

[@mikebashford8198]

In the UK, in the 1960s, I believe people selling cars used to add sawdust to the gearbox to reduce the noise ...

[@tobystewart4403]

Amazing win with the oil. Would not have guessed that. Do Hafco know about this?

[@WheatMillington]

That sqeaking isn't from the motor bearings, it's from the centrifugal starter switch in the motor. It drags contacts to maintain the starter capacitor in the circuit until a certain speed, at which point the contacts swing away. It's normal and fairly unavoidable, and only occurs at very slow speeds.

[@artisanmakes]

Well at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about. I had to replace one of the bearings on my 3 phase motor earlier this year, wasn't much fun of a job

[@dragosm.3474]

The straight teeth gears used in the gearbox is a big source of noise. I think there is a limit to how much you can improve the noise just by adding the right oil and amount of it

[@wobbbs]

I use 220 industrial gear oil in my Harrison, (OEM) shuts it right up and is much smoother in use, had ATF in it when I got it, rattled like a bastard!!

[@t3cker]

Wow those gears looked as dry as the lathe sounded! There are some ducts made of bendible silicone or rubber made for difficult drain plugs. These things are great! But dont ask me how they are called

[@pettere8429]

Would it be possible to hook up the tailstock base with the same scale that the carrige reads off? So you can keep your zero on the quill even if you need to move the base.

[@rohanfielder6796]

Hi Mr Artisan Makes, love your content, and I'm learning heaps, so thank you! How long does it take you to produce a 20-minute or so video like this? Jusr curious. Kind regards, Roohan

[@artisanmakes]

Most nights during the week. And about 12 hours on Saturday. That’s pretty standard for videos that require some level of machining.

[@alankeith7866]

Using the hacksaw to open the caliper package was epic!!!😂😂😂

[@Ro-ni7nm]

Colchester with a quick change box, foot brake and power feeds is the ducks guts for me, it's what you know.

[@osgeld]

I need to do something similar for my drill press (the depth gauge that came with it was attached to it with a plastic clamp which flexed so it went in the trash on day 1 lol)

[@steamtrainmaker]

Hi, Try disengage the feed system see if gear cutting gear box need looking at Steve

[@paulypaulypauly8011]

Beware of letting the smoke out of the motor due to it working harder because of the thicker oil. That happened to me, which motivated me to implement a new motor, VFD, and ELS on an identical lathe. Night and day!

[@artisanmakes]

I dont think it should present a problem here since its using a single phase ac motor. Its basically using the mains power without much electronics in between.

[@paulypaulypauly8011]

@@artisanmakes yup I know, as it’s identical to my lathe (when I bought it). Was just letting you know, so you can keep an eye on the motor.

[@wyattharader7606]

You might switch the diff fluid you used for something that is not for limited slips. Limited slip rated oil has clutch material added to the fluid to help the limited slip grip better it may put excessive wear on the bearings.

[@LordHonkInc]

From the beginning I expected "So last week I talked about how happy I was with the lathe, this week let's talk about how much I hate it actually." xD

[@gregiep]

Wondering if something like automatic transmission fluid might be good.

[@panagiotisgiannoulis3747]

Goodmorning, nice work!!!!