Bearing oil port and other general questions (101.28970)

[Sight]

Here's the machine in question and a picture of the model#



I got it a few weeks ago, and have been cleaning it up. I have a question on the pulley bearing going to the headstock.


Those are the only 2 places I can see that would provide any kind of lubrication, but to me they look like set screws to lock the pulleys onto the shaft. Is that a sealed bearing, or am I missing something?

And another question, are these oil ports for the shaft inside the motor, if so do I just have to pry the rubber off to get to it? Or just leave it alone.

I'll most likely have other questions as I go along as well. Thanks

 

[Yorkus]

Yes, the bearings in the upper pulley are sealed. You are also on the right track for the motor, just pull the rubber cap to insert oil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wa5cab]

First, the ball bearings on the upper countershaft with the dual belts going to the spindle are sealed. I don't know how long they will last but I have had my Atlas 3996 (same as yours in this regard) since 1981 and the bearings are still fine.

Second, the apparent set screw in the spindle pulley is actually an oil plug. Read the post at the bottom of the Sticky Area above for more details. And read the lubrication section in the Atlas MOLO (Manual of Lathe Operation), any printing dated 1957 (17th Edition) through 1965 (22nd Edition). And I guess preferably one with a black Craftsman front cover (the Atlas version in any year is identical to the Craftsman one except that it has gray covers instead of black and says Atlas on it instead of Craftsman).

On the motor, aside from a few years in the 1970's when Sears did have a part number for a lathe with a motor, although both Atlas and Craftsman sold motors, they were sold separately. So aside from sometimes how to wire a motor, instructions for use of a motor came with the motors. I would guess that the rubber cap shown in your third photo is a place to inject grease, or the specific instructions may call for oil. But you should search online for the maintenance instructions for your particular motor before just squirting in more grease or oil. If you can get the nameplate data off of it and post that here, perhaps someone will have the instructions. But the odds probably aren't good as there have been about a bzillion motors made over the years that would work fine.

 

[Sight]

Thanks for the input, here's some pictures of the motor plates



I pulled the rubber plug out to look, seems like some sort of foam inside, maybe some kind of wicking system for oil?
There's 2 btw, front and back of the motor. looks like some oil inside to me.

 

[wa5cab]

Those are oil ports. They normally expect the motor to be installed sitting on the base feet. In your installation, the motor is mounted to the rear of the cabinet. However, if the motor is running OK and there are no apparent problems with it, I would prime the pump on my SAE 30 ND oil can, give the hole two quick squirts and immediately reinstall the rubber cover. Repeat for the other end, except that there is no need to reprime the pump.