Thread: Lubrication System

To tell you the truth I haven't set my mind on a particular tap. I did think of using the air flow control ones, but would rather something that was on and off easier. For the jets I was thinking of making a threaded piece of brass on the lathe and parting them off. I could then drill the center to suit where it's going to go and also thread the inside of the brass coupler that is going into the machine to take these jets.

I had not ruled out making my own on off valves as they only need an oring to seal them with low pressures like this. Something like a push button plunger where once depressed with your finger would allow the oil to flow, then releasing it would close the flow and have 2 orings on it so once the spring pushed it back it would seal it off. The design I had in mind would be just into a block of aluminium with bored holes to suit the plungers.

When using the mill you find the X axis gets the most work and the Z the least, so the Z would only need a bit at the beginning of each day, but the X would need a constant supply while using the power feed. You will also need something to bleed off the pressure at the end of the session because you don't want a pool of oil in the chip tray the next morning. This could just be a simple tap.

Dave

For the distribution blocks I was going for something like these
eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d

Dave

Well today my 4mm 90deg push fittings arrived. They are 5/32 not 4mm as advertised and so even a 3.97mm drill produces a slightly oversized hole. It's certainly not a tight fit but with some permatec aviation sealant it should tighten up, if not then I'll use the regular stuff as it cures harder.

As mentioned, I have decided to cut around the gibb strip and bolt. It's unfortunate but I would be cutting my nose to spite my have if I trimmed some of the gibb strip at this stage. In any case I will be installing a rubber sheet over the ways as well. The felt will mostly be used to soak up and wipe the oil back and forth.

I'll post some more pics when I pull my finger out!

Cheers,

Simon

It's now been a day since I fixed the push fit connectors in their holes with the permatec sealant and it has not worked too well. They just pull out and the sealant is still gooey. I half had a feeling it may not work. I think I may use some areldhyte or similar unless someone here reads this and comes up with a better idea. The local weather conditions in my shed may not be helping either (see second pic!)

I'm of to watch my 4 yo do Kinda Ballet this morning so no shed time till maybe the afternoon?

Cheers,

Simon

Hi Simon,
For now I was going to put lines into the nuts. I thought I would get some clear hose from bunnings and some vacuum hose fittings from supercheap. I was going to thread in some restrictors made from threaded rod. I may need to use some small hose clips to seal it up.

Hi,
Just in from machining my first injector. I tested it with some 5mm clear hose via a plastic vacuum pipe elbow and shoved the hose onto an oil can spout. No leaks to report, but i drilled a .5mm injector hole and i was pretty amazed at the amount of hyspin that came out the end. I would think .5 would be good for the y + z ways, maybe .6 or .7 for the x ways and .3 (smallest i have) for the nuts. I drilled most of the way through the jet with a 3mm and just left a 1mm wall that i drilled through with the .5 bit in a pin vice.
Sorry Simon, wasn't sure which thread to put this in but it has more to do with the lube system than my other problems so i put it here.

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hi,
Just in from machining my first injector. I tested it with some 5mm clear hose via a plastic vacuum pipe elbow and shoved the hose onto an oil can spout. No leaks to report, but i drilled a .5mm injector hole and i was pretty amazed at the amount of hyspin that came out the end. I would think .5 would be good for the y + z ways, maybe .6 or .7 for the x ways and .3 (smallest i have) for the nuts. I drilled most of the way through the jet with a 3mm and just left a 1mm wall that i drilled through with the .5 bit in a pin vice.
Sorry Simon, wasn't sure which thread to put this in but it has more to do with the lube system than my other problems so i put it here.

No worries Ewan,

Thats's great news. Thanks, it gives me a ball park to work from. I'm not sure how small my smallest drill is. Probably similar. I'll make a start in my distribution manifold tomorrow. It will be attached to the saddle with some M5 screws that way I will having only one (probably 6mm) line coming from the saddle to the pump or oil feed.

My front wiper is finished! Looks OK. Hey BTW I don't need any felt from you as I forgot that I bought an A4 sheet of 6mm felt about 3 weeks ago! Anyway, I pretty happy with the result. I made the front wiper out of 50x 5mm BMS and it just sandwiches the felt and rubber way cover between it and the saddle. I extended the wiper off to the right with is what the end of my distribution manifold will attach to. That way it will live under the table, running parallel to the Y ways. It also obscures the Y gibb tightening screws which at first I thought was going to be a PITA but then it gives me an excuse to extend the screws about 100mm so they will be easy to get to and the manifold has enough meat so I can drill holes that line up with the gibb screws and act as a guide or journal.

Cheers,

Simon

Ewan,

I forgot to add. Pressure loss due to friction is not only inversely proportional to the radius but also directly proportional to the length it travels. So if you want to reduce the flow even more but still use a 0.5mm hole, then just increase the distance the oil needs to travel through that size hole. Doubling the length of the restriction should double the frictional losses. It won't necessarily half the flow as there are others factors involved the overall flow rate too.

Simon

Simon, rather than using a fixed jet's have you considered using flow control valves ?

flow control valve | eBay

Originally Posted by shedhappens

Simon, rather than using a fixed jet's have you considered using flow control valves ?

flow control valve | eBay

Hi John,
After reading your comment i ducked into bunnings (again! its good and bad that its only 5 min from home and work....) And grabbed some small taps designed for irrigation. I'm not sure if the plastic and seals will be up to it so i have it closed under pressure of oil now and i'll see if it is ok in the morning. The thing i did notice though it was very hard to get a good slow drip, the amounts of flow we are talking is probably 5% of the full open position. However i am thinking that a tap on each line with a jet could be the way to go, so you can shut of an axis if you are not using it.

Here is my first jet, it is made from 8mm threaded rod. I will make the rest (i figure i'm this far in i'll do the lot...) I'll use 3/8" as the button oilers are 8mm which happens to be the just the right size for a 3/8" tap nice to get a lucky break with this machine!

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hi John,
After reading your comment i ducked into bunnings (again! its good and bad that its only 5 min from home and work....) And grabbed some small taps designed for irrigation. I'm not sure if the plastic and seals will be up to it so i have it closed under pressure of oil now and i'll see if it is ok in the morning. The thing i did notice though it was very hard to get a good slow drip, the amounts of flow we are talking is probably 5% of the full open position. However i am thinking that a tap on each line with a jet could be the way to go, so you can shut of an axis if you are not using it.

Here is my first jet, it is made from 8mm threaded rod. I will make the rest (i figure i'm this far in i'll do the lot...) I'll use 3/8" as the button oilers are 8mm which happens to be the just the right size for a 3/8" tap nice to get a lucky break with this machine!

Ah, great pic. That's a great idea! If you ever want to change the flow rate then you just change that part. I might do a similar thing.

Hi Shed, I had considered those inline flow controllers but I'll have a crack at a similar system to what Ewans doing first. I will find it more satisfying if I can manufacture my own from lumps of steel.

Cheers,

Simon

One suggestion for flow control I have seen are needle values use in aquariums for the air flow. I have seen them come in banks of 6 or more taps, Brass ones as well as plastic...
This is other reason I used gravity with each oil point with it's own tube I can see how much goes into each point.

Russell

something like this
Elite Aquarium Air Control Valve 5-Way - The Aquarium Shop Australia

in brass
AquaBid.com - Item # airpumps1341364217 - 12 LOT 3 WAY BRASS AIR CONTROL VALVE NEW! - Ends: Tue Jul 3 2012 - 08:10:17 PM CDT