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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
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    The pressure required is usually to overcome the restriction created by the line and the small one way ball in the actual fitting. If you remove this, and you can manage to squirt some oil directly into the female thread then it should get you out of trouble, unless the oil line is gummed up for some reason. It will still make a but of a mess as some of the oil will dribble out.

    Another option (once again purely to get you out of trouble) is to make up a small extension tube with a matching male thread to screw into that female thread. Then squirt some oil into the end of that. Or a flexible hose to allow you to hold it up and let gravity feed some in.

    That fact that there is not a cup oiler on that fitting suggests to me that the oil must have too much restriction or needs to flow through a section of tube that creates too much resistance to rely on gravity feed and instead needs some positive pressure from a gun. Just a thought.

    FWIW, my Pacific (bridgeport clone) mill has a zerk style lube point at the rear and it's made for grease. It pumps grease straight onto the back gear. Instructions say once a day. Of course when I opened it up to clean it, that compartment was filled with grease but thats a normal thing to see apparently.

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    N.W.Tasmania
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    One thing you need to consider is that someone is likely to have pumped grease into it in the past if it has anything resembling a grease nipple. The fact that the manufacturer may have stipulated it was to be oiled and not greased in the manual for the machine won't have counted, because some blokes don't read manuals. I have no idea what lubricants were specified for your mill, but the general consensus seems to be that it should be oiled, and if that turns out to be the case, then I think that it may pay you to strip it down and clean it out, especially the lube lines, so that the oil can get to where it is needed. Oil when pumped down a line is often distributed by galleries, channels and wicks to numerous points, and when some boof head pumps grease into it, it just builds up like a great pile of crap, and all the bits that need to be lubed get none of it and remain dry.
    Get the proper manual and if it is supposed to be oiled, I would strip that part of the machine to clean and check what has been done in the past, and if necessary take any remedial action required. I hope that it has been looked after as it was supposed to have been, and that we are all concerned about nothing. By the way Abnox is a Swiss outfit that makes pretty good grease and oil guns, and from time to time they come up on ebay, worth a look anyway.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,440

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    Hi Guys,
    I had a little wander around a local engineering firm yesterday morning (avoiding shopping with XYL) they have five bridgeport machines and a couple of similar clones among several much larger machines. All of them have either an oil cup or a ball nipple on the head as shown in your picture. One of them also has an automatic oiler on the side, you just pull the lever and let it go. A spring returns the lever forcing oil to various places via copper pipes.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Townsville, Tropical Nth Qld.
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    225

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    Hi everyone, I have been a bit late on this one, but that grease nipple is actually for grease, not oil. Below are two photos I took of that exact model during a quick check up. The grease exits the port straight onto the slow speed gear. What I did remember was that it is a sort of sealed system, so after about 200ml of grease has been injected, it has to be stripped down to dig it all out.
    Rgds,
    Crocy.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Brisbane
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    245

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    uh oh, I sort of put quite a lot of oil down there. Hmm, how will I get that out... And where is it...

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    near Rockhampton
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    6,216

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    The Bridgeport J head manual says oil. ISO 68 viscosity oil. Although anything is better then nothing as it is a total loss system.

    bridgeport lube.jpg
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Townsville, Tropical Nth Qld.
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    225

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    Quote Originally Posted by .RC. View Post
    The Bridgeport J head manual says oil. ISO 68 viscosity oil. Although anything is better then nothing as it is a total loss system.

    bridgeport lube.jpg
    So with this info, should I clean all the grease out and change the grease nipple to an oiler like at the bottom of the quill?
    rgds,
    Crocy.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Healesville
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    2,129

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    Quote Originally Posted by Old Croc View Post
    So with this info, should I clean all the grease out and change the grease nipple to an oiler like at the bottom of the quill?
    rgds,
    Crocy.
    It is likely an oil nipple, you need a pompom oil gun.

  9. #24
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    Mar 2017
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    Brisbane
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    Well crap I've never been more confused! Oil or grease? Any consensus?

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Townsville, Tropical Nth Qld.
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    225

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    Quote Originally Posted by j3dprints View Post
    Well crap I've never been more confused! Oil or grease? Any consensus?
    I am going to pull it apart on Saturday and see whats under the slow speed gear. If there is a bearing that the oil can run into, then RC is correct and its an oil point. If so, that grease nipple is going in the bin and an oiling point is going to replace it so no one else stuffs up.
    Rgds,
    Crocy.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    near Rockhampton
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    No need to pull it apart. Like I say all these step pulley mill heads are near identical clones of the bridgeport J head, so if Bridgeport say oil, then it is oil.

    Plenty of photo's here. 3/4 of the way down the page it shows the back gear setup. Bridgeport J head step pulley disassembly and reassembly
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
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    Hi Guys,

    Definitely oil.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  13. #28
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    Mar 2017
    Location
    Brisbane
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    So... oil? Croc did you take it apart?

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Townsville, Tropical Nth Qld.
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    225

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    Quote Originally Posted by j3dprints View Post
    So... oil? Croc did you take it apart?
    Well this has got really confusing. I dug all the grease out and there are bearings under the dog clutch.
    I am going to add 2 photos, not sure where they will be in relation to the text. 1st is the oil port I made up. 2nd is the page from the manual.
    My observations are that the nipple is not where it is indicated in any of the drawings. From the chart it says to oil the cap ring at 1 on the LH drawing. The cap ring is actually on top of the head not as indicated half way down the head?
    It then says to grease 2 for the spindle gear. 2 is shown at the back of the head in the lower drawing. The actual nipple in this machine feeds into the spindle gears?
    3 is the only one that is actually correct at the bottom of the spindle.
    So this has me absolutely stuffed. Did those crafty little Chinese blokes change things around when they made these variants?
    Rgds,
    Crocy.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
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    Hi Crocy,

    It is likely that the handbook / drawings were a poor copy of the original Bridgeport head. I would go by whatever the original head design calls for with regard to lubrication. As I said earlier, non of the genuine Bridgeports that I have access to and looked at required grease. However at the end of the day, oil is a lubricant and should be sufficient, even for the gear teeth, at least it will get distributed around the places it needs to be, including the gear teeth.

    JM2PW
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

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