- Joined
- Sep 7, 2019
- Messages
- 674
Heyo! I've not found a good resource for this subject so I'm gonna try my hand at supplying some info to the community.
Backstory, I got an Atlas 7B just a few weeks ago and upon close inspection it appears someone had lubed it all up with heavy grease as opposed to the recommended No. 10 or 20 oil. So in the interest of keeping this thing in top shape I want to disassemble it as much as possible and give it a good cleaning/lubing before I start to use it. After all machines like this will become more and more rare as time rolls on so I think we in the hobby have a duty to preserve them as best we can. I don't really think of this machine as "mine", rather I am its current steward. Someday, God willing, some other person will enjoy it for many years to come.
On to the greasy stuff!
The following pics are the state of the machine as received.
Under the grease cup on the right side (as viewed by the operator) of the pinion shaft someone had pressed in a zerk fitting thus rendering the grease cup useless.
This may seem to be an upgrade at first but as I found out on my Atlas lathe countershaft, the temptation when using a zerk and grease gun is to apply much more grease than necessary. Even one pump of the gun is many times more than needed. A grease cup should be turned about one full turn each time the machine is used. This meters out a very small amount of grease, just enough to squeeze a little fresh lube into the bearings. This zerk will be removed and lubing will be handled by the grease cup.
This is the opposite side of the same pinion shaft. It should have a grease cup similar to the pulley side. The cup has been replaced with a zerk. Based on the huge globs of grease inside the machine it is evident that too much grease has been pumped in.
A closer look. This fitting will be replaced with a grease cup that has 1/8"- 27 NPT threads. Again, a single turn of the cup each time the machine is used will supply adequate fresh grease.
Next, the manual calls this part the "Neck and outer bearings" for the large crank gear inside the machine column. This too should be an oil cup and lubed with No. 10 oil. Here you can see it packed with grease.
This grease must be flushed out.
In this pic we can see grease applied to the ram. On my machine there was a zerk fitting on the left side ram slide and just an open hole on the right. The factory spec for this is again light oil, the idea being that the ram will "float" on a film of oil like a car's crankshaft and connecting rod bearings. The ram will be removed and cleaned and lubed with oil.
Finally here are several shots of the internal parts inside the column. The column casting houses the main crank mechanism. Oil is spec'd for all these parts with the exception of the gear teeth. The gear teeth are recommended to be occasionally coated with a small amount of "graphite gear grease".
The amount of grease inside the machine is excessive and will be thoroughly cleaned out. As mentioned before all the parts inside the column are to be lubed with No. 10 motor oil or equivalent.
The grease used through-out this machine may not technically be bad for it but it does have a few negative aspects. One drawback of grease is the lack of cleanliness in operation. Any machine in which grease is so heavily used will inevitably leave your hands, clothes and tools also coated in grease. Grease will collect dust and grit more so than oil. Because it is so sticky it is not easy to flush out debris from grease coated parts like it is with oil. Since oil is relatively thin and fluid, any accumulated dust and tiny chips can be flushed out with liberal application of more oil. The excess it then wiped up and a clean machine is obtained.
So this is the start of my journey into the Atlas 7B! Stick around, I'll be posting lots more pics and detailed tear down info in the coming days/weeks. Hopefully this will help future hobbyists!
Backstory, I got an Atlas 7B just a few weeks ago and upon close inspection it appears someone had lubed it all up with heavy grease as opposed to the recommended No. 10 or 20 oil. So in the interest of keeping this thing in top shape I want to disassemble it as much as possible and give it a good cleaning/lubing before I start to use it. After all machines like this will become more and more rare as time rolls on so I think we in the hobby have a duty to preserve them as best we can. I don't really think of this machine as "mine", rather I am its current steward. Someday, God willing, some other person will enjoy it for many years to come.
On to the greasy stuff!
The following pics are the state of the machine as received.
Under the grease cup on the right side (as viewed by the operator) of the pinion shaft someone had pressed in a zerk fitting thus rendering the grease cup useless.
This may seem to be an upgrade at first but as I found out on my Atlas lathe countershaft, the temptation when using a zerk and grease gun is to apply much more grease than necessary. Even one pump of the gun is many times more than needed. A grease cup should be turned about one full turn each time the machine is used. This meters out a very small amount of grease, just enough to squeeze a little fresh lube into the bearings. This zerk will be removed and lubing will be handled by the grease cup.
This is the opposite side of the same pinion shaft. It should have a grease cup similar to the pulley side. The cup has been replaced with a zerk. Based on the huge globs of grease inside the machine it is evident that too much grease has been pumped in.
A closer look. This fitting will be replaced with a grease cup that has 1/8"- 27 NPT threads. Again, a single turn of the cup each time the machine is used will supply adequate fresh grease.
Next, the manual calls this part the "Neck and outer bearings" for the large crank gear inside the machine column. This too should be an oil cup and lubed with No. 10 oil. Here you can see it packed with grease.
This grease must be flushed out.
In this pic we can see grease applied to the ram. On my machine there was a zerk fitting on the left side ram slide and just an open hole on the right. The factory spec for this is again light oil, the idea being that the ram will "float" on a film of oil like a car's crankshaft and connecting rod bearings. The ram will be removed and cleaned and lubed with oil.
Finally here are several shots of the internal parts inside the column. The column casting houses the main crank mechanism. Oil is spec'd for all these parts with the exception of the gear teeth. The gear teeth are recommended to be occasionally coated with a small amount of "graphite gear grease".
The amount of grease inside the machine is excessive and will be thoroughly cleaned out. As mentioned before all the parts inside the column are to be lubed with No. 10 motor oil or equivalent.
The grease used through-out this machine may not technically be bad for it but it does have a few negative aspects. One drawback of grease is the lack of cleanliness in operation. Any machine in which grease is so heavily used will inevitably leave your hands, clothes and tools also coated in grease. Grease will collect dust and grit more so than oil. Because it is so sticky it is not easy to flush out debris from grease coated parts like it is with oil. Since oil is relatively thin and fluid, any accumulated dust and tiny chips can be flushed out with liberal application of more oil. The excess it then wiped up and a clean machine is obtained.
So this is the start of my journey into the Atlas 7B! Stick around, I'll be posting lots more pics and detailed tear down info in the coming days/weeks. Hopefully this will help future hobbyists!