Opinions on Drip Oilers For South Bend 9A

[Susan_in_SF]

Hi,
I have seen online a couple of South Bends that have 2 drip feed oilers on top of the headstock. Has anyone here had any experience using these oilers? Is it worth buying since it supposedly may better ensure constant spindle lubrication, or is it just stupid, where it's better to oil it manually. I have a 1940's South Bend 9A, btw, in case some it matters to any of y'alls. Below is a pic I found online.

Thanks!
Susan

 

[woodchucker]

Not necessary for your model. Replace the wicks in the headstock, and replace the oil. You'll have good lubrication. Older units did not have the reservoir with wicks, hence the need for top drip oilers.
While you are free to do convert it, if you just put new oilers in you'll have good lubrication. After a long time they get hard, and don't lubricate anymore.
Also don't use grease in your cone pulley, or back gear. I found out that grease does not lube well for these. Oil does a better job and keeps things cool. I overheated mine by greasing (advice from a rebuild manual) , and it locked up. They originally called for spindle oil and that's what I use now. No problems since.

 

[jhuston]

Hi Susan, I used to have a South Bend 9A, and I think oilers would be a nice feature on a lathe with such a simple oiling system- provided you have the ones that can be adjusted/shut off. They can be annoying when removing the chuck, too. Something to think about.
-James Huston

 

[4GSR]

If your lathe is equipped with the oil cups on the front side, don't do this!
As Jeff mentioned above, you need to determine if the spindle is getting oil. Pretty much, if the spindle turns freely when the belt tension is removed from the sheaves, it's fine. Continue feeding it oil from the side oilers. If it's sticky or rough feeling, probably have damaged journals, hard to say. Removing the spindle to service the felt pads is not an easy task. There's a lot of "small" things that you have to pay attention to when removing the spindle. I've done this to my 9" SBL several times over the years. There is a rebuild kit available on eBay that has all of the felts, springs, and instructions on replacing the felts in the headstock bearings. There is even a thread here on doing a complete 9" Model A South Bend lathe here too. And there are several of us that will be more than glad to help assist you in doing any repairs to your lathe.
Ken

 

[Susan_in_SF]

Thanks Guys !!
After reading James comment about removing chucks and learning from you guys that it's not needed, I will pass on buying the drip oilers. I'll just use one of my vintage oiling cans (I love vintage woodworking/metalworking stuff) When I am done organizing my tiny garage (my eyes were bigger than my garage, lol), I will have to clean up my SB lathe. It was very well used by the previous owner who passed away. He made guns with the 48" bed SB. I also need to compare which South Bend has less way wear. I obtained a 42" SB 9C from the 1930's (both lathes use v belts, thank God) from a guy desperate to empty his storage locker for $100. 1 lathe will be used for making stuff, and for the other lathe, I guess I will use for spare parts as needed. Anyways, I am glad I bought this SB renovation kit off of ebay awhile ago. It includes new wicks and very detailed instructions. So far, I would totally recommend it to anyone with a SB lathe. I will post some pics of the kit should anyone be interested in getting it for their SB.

Thanks,
Susan

 

[Charles Spencer]

Your picture made larger.

 

[Silverbullet]

You could pipe the oiler and mount them or even one larger oiler to the back or end. If you feel its in the way of chuck changes.

 

[Glenn Brooks]

Probably a good idea to at least check the felts in your headstock. As a counterprevailing opinion, I like using the dripoilers on my circa 1919 Dalton 7" lathe. I DO NOT like the small git oil cups that some SB's are equipped with. They don't hold any appreciable amount of oil, and always run dry and don't get filled in a timely manner. So that's why I prefer the drip oilers. More oil capacity, and positive, visual awareness of how much oil will be lubricating your machine. Also chucks on small lathes usually arent a big deal to manually remove and replace. so personally, haven't had any issues with the location of the oilers on my Dalton.

For reference - Here's my drip oilers installed and in use:




Glenn

 

[woodchucker]

Glen, the gits oilers are only a port to a larger reservoir of oil in a cavity in the headstock. The spring felt oilers drop into that cavity. When I rebuilt my 9a, I cleaned that gallery out with acetone and was impressed with how much acetone I had to run through it. So it's much larger than you think. Wish I knew how they did the casting on that.

 

[dlane]

My SB heavy 10 with front oil cups , although it doesn't run 8hrs a day when I do use it I check the cups and oil everything else , I've never had to add oil to the spindle cups in two years now.