Hi everyone,
Newbie here, this my first post to H-M forums. Having recently acquired an Atlas M1C mill that needs a bit of attention before putting it back into operation after an unknown period of inactivity, I found this site and am hoping to learn from the experts here as I become familiar with this little bench top mill. No photos of it have been taken yet, as it was just unloaded into my shop a couple days ago. But, will be taking pics soon though, and can post as necessary.
So, first on the agenda with this little guy was to lube where required, beginning with oil to the spindle bearings. Squirted some oil into the oilers, then spun the spindle manually. Seemed fine, turned smooth and freely. Then......after under a minute I see oil seeping out from the spindle bearing directly behind the arbor driver. The seeping continued until a small puddle collected on the horizontal flat section directly below and outboard of the bearing, behind the arbor driver. My conclusion is: I over-oiled the bearing. Otherwise, I shouldn’t be seeing this amount of leakage, correct? Is this leakage to be expected as normal if too much oil is squirted into the oilers?
There are dust covers on both sides of the spindle bearings. Can the dust cover found behind the arbor driver be removed and replaced with a standard grease/oil seal instead? If not a standard seal, perhaps a custom seal? I haven’t yet attempted to remove the arbor driver to access the dust cover, but I assume the dust cover can be pulled from the outboard side, simply by removing the arbor driver and then using a tool to remove the dust cover, correct? Of course, the inside dust covers would not be removed this way, but at this point, the oil leakage seems only to be collecting externally. OR, should I not be overly concerned about a little oil leakage and just accept the oil leakage as normal for this machine and move on to any other minor details needing attention on this mill? Glad to be hear, and eager to learn!
DarylJ
Newbie here, this my first post to H-M forums. Having recently acquired an Atlas M1C mill that needs a bit of attention before putting it back into operation after an unknown period of inactivity, I found this site and am hoping to learn from the experts here as I become familiar with this little bench top mill. No photos of it have been taken yet, as it was just unloaded into my shop a couple days ago. But, will be taking pics soon though, and can post as necessary.
So, first on the agenda with this little guy was to lube where required, beginning with oil to the spindle bearings. Squirted some oil into the oilers, then spun the spindle manually. Seemed fine, turned smooth and freely. Then......after under a minute I see oil seeping out from the spindle bearing directly behind the arbor driver. The seeping continued until a small puddle collected on the horizontal flat section directly below and outboard of the bearing, behind the arbor driver. My conclusion is: I over-oiled the bearing. Otherwise, I shouldn’t be seeing this amount of leakage, correct? Is this leakage to be expected as normal if too much oil is squirted into the oilers?
There are dust covers on both sides of the spindle bearings. Can the dust cover found behind the arbor driver be removed and replaced with a standard grease/oil seal instead? If not a standard seal, perhaps a custom seal? I haven’t yet attempted to remove the arbor driver to access the dust cover, but I assume the dust cover can be pulled from the outboard side, simply by removing the arbor driver and then using a tool to remove the dust cover, correct? Of course, the inside dust covers would not be removed this way, but at this point, the oil leakage seems only to be collecting externally. OR, should I not be overly concerned about a little oil leakage and just accept the oil leakage as normal for this machine and move on to any other minor details needing attention on this mill? Glad to be hear, and eager to learn!
DarylJ
They are a good sign of proper lubrication! LOL
