Hello all. I acquried an Enco 13 X 40 lathe. The machine is mechanically sound and does a pretty good job on turning projects. I topped off the headstock oil and then noticed oil seeping down around the headstock after a few run sessions. I added just enough oil to bring the level to the sight glass mark. Even after wiping up the oil, I notice oil continuing to seep from the headstock area. The oil spreads along the lathe and creates a real mess. Its not a gush, it just seeps over time. Has anyone had similar problems and, if so, how did you resolve the issue? Thanks in advance for any help or recommendations.
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Enco 13X40 Leaking Headstock Oil
- Thread starter wingnut
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2013
- Messages
- 792
You may want to talk to this fella and see if your lathes are similar.. Ray
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/13084-Belts-and-why-nobody-changes-them
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/13084-Belts-and-why-nobody-changes-them
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2013
- Messages
- 56
I have the same problem, it leaks just enough to make a mess. I thought about seals but according to the parts diagram there are no seals on the spindle shaft. I also get seepage thru the speed change lever and there is an o ring in there. So the first thing is to find where the oil is coming from and then look at the parts diagram. I have not disassembled the head and don,t care to do so now.
I am trying to determine where the oil is leaking. The drawings do not show a seal of any kind. I do not want to disassemble the head right now as well. My concern is to keep the oil off the floor. I'm thinking about some sort of catch pan under the machine, at least untill I can determine if the seepage can be controled. I'll keep working at it. I would like to keep the machine for a while. It does a pretty good job and I have invested a good deal of effort building a rock solid stand for it. Thanks for your response Jimbo, iron man and pdentrem. I'll keep going forward.
hew:
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2011
- Messages
- 4,142
I have a 16" Taiwan made Grizzly from 1986. Had it's brother at work for about 10 years. I am yet to see an Asian lathe that does not leak oil. I had a 14" Jet at work,too. It leaked oil all the time.
The cure might be to remove the lower down levers on the headstock,whose "bosses" are usually round. Remove the handles from them,and turn a circular and round bottom groove on the back sides of these lever bosses and put in an "O" ring. Then,when you put the levers back on the lathe,the O rings will be squeezed snugly against the headstock. I'm not sure if the O rings would eventually lose their "tension" and get flattened out,but it would work for a while.
I did the same thing on my 1964 Hardinge HLVH to stop oil leaking through the carriage handle. There seems to have been no provision in this high class lathe to prevent oil leaking,except for close tolerance in the bushing that the carriage handle's axle goes through. I doubt that the close tolerance ever prevented oil from leaking even when new. I cut a ring for an O ring behind the hand wheel and out stopped the leaking. But,this is a rotating hand wheel,and now I need to tighten it up a bit. The shifting levers on a lathe hardly move at all,compared to an apron hand wheel. Hopefully,the O ring would last longer in that application.
The cure might be to remove the lower down levers on the headstock,whose "bosses" are usually round. Remove the handles from them,and turn a circular and round bottom groove on the back sides of these lever bosses and put in an "O" ring. Then,when you put the levers back on the lathe,the O rings will be squeezed snugly against the headstock. I'm not sure if the O rings would eventually lose their "tension" and get flattened out,but it would work for a while.
I did the same thing on my 1964 Hardinge HLVH to stop oil leaking through the carriage handle. There seems to have been no provision in this high class lathe to prevent oil leaking,except for close tolerance in the bushing that the carriage handle's axle goes through. I doubt that the close tolerance ever prevented oil from leaking even when new. I cut a ring for an O ring behind the hand wheel and out stopped the leaking. But,this is a rotating hand wheel,and now I need to tighten it up a bit. The shifting levers on a lathe hardly move at all,compared to an apron hand wheel. Hopefully,the O ring would last longer in that application.
That's where I'm at for now. I appreciate your carefree approach Kickstart.