Lathe oil ?

[graco2]

I just purchased a new grizzly lathe and cant find the recommended oil on hand anywhere.Will the AW 32 oil found in the parts store work in place of the ISO 32? I was hoping to find something for break in use before ordering 5 gal online.

 

[savagedasher]

I just purchased a new grizzly lathe and cant find the recommended oil on hand anywhere.Will the AW 32 oil found in the parts store work in place of the ISO 32? I was hoping to find something for break in use before ordering 5 gal online.

You can. Call grizzly They will tell you without any guessing .
Congratulations on the new lathe. Larry

 

[Wirelessguy2005]

Go to a farm supply store such as Rural King or Tractor Supply and they will have what you are looking for. Most times they sell it in a 2 gallon container for a very reasonable price.

I just purchased a new grizzly lathe and cant find the recommended oil on hand anywhere.Will the AW 32 oil found in the parts store work in place of the ISO 32? I was hoping to find something for break in use before ordering 5 gal online.

 

[carlsbad]

Order online and get the right stuff. My South Bend manual says "ISO 32 or DTE Light". I assume yours does too. I just ordered 5 gal of the DTE light on Amazon (I think) and the price was good and got it in a week. While you're at it get a few gallons of ISO 68 way oil.

I'm not sure what you're looking at in a local parts store but I doubt is is circulating oil made for machine gears.

--jerry

 

[rardoin]

Go with Carlsbad's recs......Mobil DTE light in the headstock and carriage and Mobil Vactra 2 as a way oil.

 

[shortgrass]

Dang! What do I have to do, wipe the cutting oil off the ways so I can put on some way oil? And, if I do that, my coolant/coolant tank will end up being contaminated with way oil, not the 'best' stuff for cutting tools.......

 

[carlsbad]

Dang! What do I have to do, wipe the cutting oil off the ways so I can put on some way oil? And, if I do that, my coolant/coolant tank will end up being contaminated with way oil, not the 'best' stuff for cutting tools.......

Yes. a little way oil in the coolant tank doesn't seem to cause a problem. The way oil is thicker and is designed to keep a nice slick layer under the coolant. Don't trust the coolant to lubricate the ways by itself.
--Jerry

 

[lloydx2]

The headstock will take the 32. The speed and apron control box takes the 68.
Buy both in 5 gals The consistency of 68 is like chain saw bar lube. You will find yourself
using the 68 (way oil) for a lot of other stuff in your shop. When you flush a and refill
throw some magnets in the gear boxes. Have fun
Regards Lloyd

 

[shortgrass]

Yes. a little way oil in the coolant tank doesn't seem to cause a problem. The way oil is thicker and is designed to keep a nice slick layer under the coolant. Don't trust the coolant to lubricate the ways by itself.
--Jerry

Now that's about the biggest crock I've heard, lately. Talk about 'mis-information'! I spent several years setting-up, operating and repairing multiple spindle automatic screw machines ( and NO, we didn't make screws unless they were real special screws and 5000 or 10000 were needed). We used 'screw machine oil' for coolant/ lubricant. No way oil on any of the slides. Most of those machines wore war production tags, and they were still making parts accurately in the mid to late '80s. I, and several others who visit these gun forums, have worked in machine shops, before water soluble oil came into being and cutting oil was the stuff. If you can wear the ways on these lathe because you didn't use way oil, you used cutting oil from your squirt can instead, you don't have much of a lathe to begin with.

 

[carlsbad]

Ok shortgrass. The rest of us are doing it wrong. I think the ways on my lathe are pretty dang important and I want to protect them. I just sold a 15 year old lathe and the ways were like new. Indeed, i got top dollar for it. If you want to eschew way oil so be it. My recommendation to use it stands.

Now I don't have any experience on automated screw machines and don't know if they are designed to be lubricated by the coolant or not. Your descriptions sounds like they are.

Manual lathes are designed to use way oil on the ways. that's the way it is.

--jerry

 

[ridgeway]

Oil skimmer

 

[rardoin]

Yes. a little way oil in the coolant tank doesn't seem to cause a problem. The way oil is thicker and is designed to keep a nice slick layer under the coolant. Don't trust the coolant to lubricate the ways by itself.
--Jerry

Exactly. The layer of way oil and cutting oil that will accumulate on the surface of the coolant tank ('tramp oil') can be occasionally skimmed off with a ladle or by using an 'oilsorb' mat. It does help reduce the rate of evaporation of water from water soluble coolant. I never ran a lathe using only coolant to lube the ways...at least not a lathe that I had any affection for.

 

[Steve morgan]

Exactly. The layer of way oil and cutting oil that will accumulate on the surface of the coolant tank ('tramp oil') can be occasionally skimmed off with a ladle or by using an 'oilsorb' mat. It does help reduce the rate of evaporation of water from water soluble coolant. I never ran a lathe using only coolant to lube the ways...at least not a lathe that I had any affection for.

45+.years in Mach. shops ,will second that.

 

[boltman223]

Ok shortgrass. The rest of us are doing it wrong. I think the ways on my lathe are pretty dang important and I want to protect them. I just sold a 15 year old lathe and the ways were like new. Indeed, i got top dollar for it. If you want to eschew way oil so be it. My recommendation to use it stands.

Now I don't have any experience on automated screw machines and don't know if they are designed to be lubricated by the coolant or not. Your descriptions sounds like they are.

Manual lathes are designed to use way oil on the ways. that's the way it is.

--jerry

I was curious, was this lathe used in a job shop or production shop working 8, 10, 12, hours a day?

 

[carlsbad]

no

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I think more important than the type of lube is to keep them clean and dont get any grit on them. Like in an engine, oil is meant to float parts and not allow contact. If oil is too thin it will not have the surface tension to support the load. Too thick and the oil wont flow between the parts. In the application of ways, I dont think its very critical, so long as they are lubed and clean. I do use #2 way oil and #10 spindle oil in everything I have.

 

[shortgrass]

Just who said anything about water soluble coolant? I pump OIL! Dark threading OIL on the tool room lathe (50-60% dark threading oil, 40%-50% Tap Magic). I keep a Golden Rod pump oil can full of the same stuff handy. Same stuff I wipe the ways off with. Never saw way oil until CNCs came into the shops. Yes Carlsbad, a bunch of you are using 'over kill' on about everything you do. You're trying to pull the wings off of mosquitos . Did you remove the wipers from the carriage? The way wipers do a pretty good job of wiping everything off, in including your way oil, if they're in good shape. A 'tramp oil skimmer' on a manual lathe, especially one that's not used for 'production' work? "Wanna-be" machinists, who've never worked in a machine shop.

 

[Eddie Harren]

This is going to get good!

 

[carlsbad]

Shortgrass,
Let me back up. I didn't realize your question was more rhetorical than serious. Sometimes inflection is hard to follow on the internet. Most advice given here is for the guys trying to figure out how to use their first lathe so I answered that way. I was surprised you were asking a question like that since my impression of your skills is advanced rather than new guy.

I too use oil in my sump. Most new guys use the water soluble stuff.

I try to keep the things I write here to be good advice for newbies. I generally identify jobs that newbies shouldn't attempt.

I'm sorry that I misunderstood your comment. It sounds like you know what your doing to keep your ways lubricated.

I do use way oil with my coolant system for a variety of reasons. It just adds another layer of protection and doesn't negatively affect my cutting oil. I don't always use cutting oil. The oil I use is years old, I forgot what it is, and don't have any info on it's lubricating properties. I like way oil. It's how I learned to treat a lathe from lesson 1. I have a one shot oiling system that I keep full of Mobil Vactra 2.

--Jerry

--Jerry

 

[Shrek]

What type of cutting oil are you guys using in your coolant pump ? I'm going to be setting up my 13" Colchester Clausing Student 2500 in the coming months and reading this with real interest.