Thread: Vactra Way Oil

Also Toolman, those oil points directly above your gears are similar in function to mine except you can't see mine. They are hidden. Where mine are, they are surrounded by a lip created by the casting with a single hole in the side. The hole is a single oil point that then fills up the void to allow oil to run down into all the holes. Problem is, you can't see so you don't know if you have pumped enough oil in to allow it to reach all the holes....

Frustrating thing is, I'm not in the business of designing lathes but if I were, it would take me maybe an afternoon to come up with a better system. I just don't get it. I see many older but better built lathes have this design but I assume that it actually works.

Of course the totally enclosed gearbox with an extra oil sight glass would have to be the ultimate!

Simon

Alas, we get what we pay for, unfortunately we sometimes don't see what we're getting until we pull things apart.
Regards,
Martin

if your real worried maybe some open gear lube. which is like sticky grease

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Some of us have mills with removable vertical heads. In the case of my mills, the heads are driven by a gear affixed to the spindle nose. When I first removed the head on the Schaublin I encountered grease on the drive and driven gears. Blackish, maybe molybdenum disulphide based. I cleaned it off and proceeded to use Mobil DTE Heavy Medium circulating oil, via the oil nipple, as per Schaublin's instructions. The equivalent to the original specified oil was DTE Light ISO 32 but discussions with a technical rep at Mobil led me to purchase the heavier ISO 68 oil for the 49 year old mill. I squirt Vactra 2 on the Hercus gear when mounting the head.

My question is should I be using grease on these gears rather than the oil I'm using at present?

I'm pretty sure the grease in the Schaublin was placed there by someone at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Salisbury. It was the only place on the mill where grease was used unlike it's liberal application on the Hercus which had close to disastrous results.

BT

Originally Posted by simonl

Hi Toolman,

I think I am going to re-bush some of the shafts in my feed gearbox too. It has only had about 4 years of light use but because several of the gears/shafts where unknowingly receiving insufficient lubrication it has a disproportionate amount of wear for it's age. Dave J give me some inspiration with some of his ideas and today I have folded up a small stainless tray to sit under it. Considering it only took me about an hour to think of, measure, cut and fold I'm very happy and it looks promising. I think I will have a small pipe plumbed into it going to either a small hand pump or an electric pump (perhaps a windscreen washer pump... if it will handle the viscosity of the oil) that will pick up oil from the tray and inject (via a small manifold) into all the required oiling points.

The idea of the tray underneath is quite a breakthrough for me because if I recycle the oil and do it regularly then it makes little difference if the oil is thin or thick. While it wont be as good as an enclosed gearbox with an oil bath, the recycling system I have in mind should fix the shortcomings.

I will post a pic soon to show you what I have done.

Cheers,

Simon

Looking forward to see what you come up with.

Dave

Originally Posted by azzrock

if your real worried maybe some open gear lube. which is like sticky grease

Spray can of motorbike chain oil. Penetrates and then stays on.

Originally Posted by RayG

I saw some oil the other day, with "intelligent molecules" ....

Then again, maybe it's a reference to the collective brainpower of the marketting company... ... Surely, it couldn't be an oblique reference to the customers intellect..

+1 vote for BobL to post those recipes.

At last I found my books.

Guy Lautard's recipe for a Way Oil.
- 1 pint of standard auto gear box oil to which you add
- 1 oz of MoS2 (Molybdenum disulphide grease or moly coat)
- 1 oz of STP
Place in sun to get nice and warm and shake!

For lube oil for between lathe centres he recommends Chevron RPM or STP.

He also has a bunch of cutting lube recipes - if I can olny find them

Bob, was that in his bedside readers? If so which one , I have all three.

Originally Posted by BobL

At last I found my books.

Guy Lautard's recipe for a Way Oil.
- 1 pint of standard auto gear box oil to which you add
- 1 oz of MoS2 (Molybdenum disulphide grease or moly coat)
- 1 oz of STP
Place in sun to get nice and warm and shake!

For lube oil for between lathe centres he recommends Chevron RPM or STP.

He also has a bunch of cutting lube recipes - if I can olny find them

Originally Posted by Swarfmaker1

Bob, was that in his bedside readers? If so which one , I have all three.

If you have the index you would be able to find it. I think it was book 2.
BTW the book does not mention the 1 Pint - It just says "some" I made mine with one pint.

Where does one find STP in Oz?

Greg

Originally Posted by Greg Q

Where does one find STP in Oz?

Greg

I got some from my BIL - it looks like this.
STP Oil Treatment - 443mL - Supercheap Auto Australia

Thanks! My nearest Supercheap is almost five minutes away, so I'll wait until I have other needs.

Greg

Originally Posted by Greg Q

Thanks! My nearest Supercheap is almost five minutes away, so I'll wait until I have other needs.

Greg

Thats great. I may give that a try. It's a bit of a pitty though. You are a week late as I recently bought 5 L Waylube 68 from True Blue Lubricants in Bayswater. Still I love the idea of mixing stuff up yourself even if it's just to see how it compares..

BTW, this way oil just looks like normal oil to me. I hope I haven't been had.

Cheers,

Simon

Simon I have 5 litres of Shell Tonna 68 way lube and it doesn't seem to have much (if any) tacifier in it either. I also have their Tonna 220 which is pretty thick.

I was thinking of adding some STP to the spindle oil they sold me which is ridiculously thin

(I suspect strongly that there has been a conversion error somewhere in their documents such that they show Morlina 10 as equivalent to Mobil Velocite spindle oil which it clearly is not. Hence the idea of a thickener. But I'll probably just get the correct stuff from Mobil and give Shell the flick)

Greg

Originally Posted by BobL

1 pint of standard auto gear box oil to which you add

Seems a potential source of confusion, ATF or auto - as in car - transmission oil, imagine the results would be quite different.

Originally Posted by Greg Q

(I suspect strongly that there has been a conversion error somewhere in their documents such that they show Morlina 10 as equivalent to Mobil Velocite spindle oil which it clearly is not. Hence the idea of a thickener. But I'll probably just get the correct stuff from Mobil and give Shell the flick)

Not sure there's been a conversion error with the Morlina - early 90s obsolete oil recommendations attached.

Can't work out how it's used as there's no fill/drain points, except for a magnetic plug in the vertical spindle....fed by the main transmission circuit apparently....the horizontal by physical location, has no other option. Then there's spindle bearing grease, presumably for assembly only.

Did have a word out at the oil depot the other day while picking up other stuff, young bloke reckons it's commonly sold for use as compressor oil.