Oiler question

homebrewed

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I found an old pump type oiler in our old garage today and decided to clean it up a bit. While doing that I took the pump apart, and noticed that the piston has two grooves spaced about half an inch apart. No O rings. The grooves look too small to accommodate O rings but....maybe not.

Like this:
IMG_2307.JPG

The outer cylinder is swaged down at the bottom and has a bearing ball & a spring in there to act as a check valve. It looks bog-simple so hard to believe it won't work, at least sort of.

Do I need to look around for one or two O rings for this? I want to load it with way oil. The nozzle on the cheap plastic squeeze bottle that came with my mill broke so I need something better to dispense the oil.
 
I found an old pump type oiler in our old garage today and decided to clean it up a bit. While doing that I took the pump apart, and noticed that the piston has two grooves spaced about half an inch apart. No O rings. The grooves look too small to accommodate O rings but....maybe not.

Like this:
View attachment 488330

The outer cylinder is swaged down at the bottom and has a bearing ball & a spring in there to act as a check valve. It looks bog-simple so hard to believe it won't work, at least sort of.

Do I need to look around for one or two O rings for this? I want to load it with way oil. The nozzle on the cheap plastic squeeze bottle that came with my mill broke so I need something better to dispense the oil.

Yes, there should be O-rings in the grooves. Measure the groove width, depth and minor diameter and find what you need here:

https://www.parker.com/literature/O-Ring Division Literature/ORD 5700 Parker_O-Ring_Handbook.pdf
 
Maybe give it a try without adding rings and see if it works. Likely you don't need them.
 
Maybe give it a try without adding rings and see if it works. Likely you don't need them.
It's an easy thing to try, the way oil is going in there no matter how the pump is configured ;)
 
I disagree as to O rings. The grooves are to equalize pressure, making the cylinder and piston not bypass oil by pushing the piston to one side, this commonly done in hydraulic systems.
This.

They actually also help seal as it makes turdbulance and disrupts a clean flow of oil past the piston thereby enhancing pressure/flow.
 
I put some way oil in my oiler and pumped away, nothing came out.

I'm thinking of wrapping some "Glide" dental floss in the grooves & seeing how that works.. Sort of like hose bibb packing. I still am uncertain that I will find any o-rings that are small enough in diameter to fit in those grooves. The piston is soldered to the lid assembly so it's not possible to enlarge the grooves on my lathe.
 
Prime it with some oil before putting in the reservoir and then quite a bit of pumping at first...
 
I put some way oil in my oiler and pumped away, nothing came out.

I'm thinking of wrapping some "Glide" dental floss in the grooves & seeing how that works.. Sort of like hose bibb packing. I still am uncertain that I will find any o-rings that are small enough in diameter to fit in those grooves. The piston is soldered to the lid assembly so it's not possible to enlarge the grooves on my lathe.
I don’t see a check ball in your pics.

Is the check ball in the tube?
 
I put some way oil in my oiler and pumped away, nothing came out.

I'm thinking of wrapping some "Glide" dental floss in the grooves & seeing how that works.. Sort of like hose bibb packing. I still am uncertain that I will find any o-rings that are small enough in diameter to fit in those grooves. The piston is soldered to the lid assembly so it's not possible to enlarge the grooves on my lathe.
It looks like the piston is about 5/8" OD: Parker has O-rings with 9/19" ID x 1/16" ( & 3/32" & 1/8") thickness. Maybe not at your local hardware store, but give Parker a call and see if they'll send you some samples.
 
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