Replacement oil, Help!

[JScott]

I shipped my lathe and mill from the States to our house here in Colombia. All the oil(s) had to be drained for shipment and now need to be refilled. Previously, I used straight,  non-detergent 30W in the gearboxes. I may not have that option here. What is the consensus on an equivalent replacement?  Thanks in advance for the help. 
Both machines are HF; 12x36 lathe and the ubiquitous, round column Rongfu clone 6x19 mill.

[EdK]

(11-07-2024, 10:55 AM)JScott Wrote: I shipped my lathe and mill from the States to our house here in Colombia. All the oil(s) had to be drained for shipment and now need to be refilled. Previously, I used straight,  non-detergent 30W in the gearboxes. I may not have that option here. What is the consensus on an equivalent replacement?  Thanks in advance for the help. 
Both machines are HF; 12x36 lathe and the ubiquitous, round column Rongfu clone 6x19 mill.

The manual says to use ISO 32 oil which SAE 10W is the equivalent of. It's readily available through Amazon. Hope this helps.

Ed

[JScott]

Thanks for the help. Amazon is a little tricky here.  Some things ship easily like electronics but other items like food do not.  They also like to pile on a shipping charge if you're not watching.  I'm not sure about shipping lubricants from Amazon but there may be some 10W available here.  We're going into the "big" city tomorrow and I'll check the Home Depot/Lowes equivalent store.  There are also some specialty stores that may have it.
Any idea why they don't mention something like a plain old 10W-30 motor oil?  Is it the additives and/or detergents that might affect the seals?  

Some additional info; the temperature here never gets below 75 degrees F.  The high is usually between 90 and 95.  The machines are in the shade so probably operating at 85 to 90 ambient air temperature.

[EdK]

(11-07-2024, 04:35 PM)JScott Wrote: Any idea why they don't mention something like a plain old 10W-30 motor oil? Is it the additives and/or detergents that might affect the seals?

You definitely don't want additives or detergents since they can attack brass and bronze parts. ISO 32 is a hydraulic oil so maybe something close to it in a hydraulic oil would be safe.

Ed

[EdK]

Also some of the additives will keep the particles of crud in suspension which is not what you want. The hydraulic oils let the crud settle out, in this case to the bottom of the head stock so they won't damage the gears. That's the gist of it anyway. Willie will correct me if I'm wrong.

Ed

[Highpower]

My lathe is a HF12x36 as well that I converted to 3-phase. Here is a page from my manual.


  12x36lathe 18.pdf (Size: 57.83 KB / Downloads: 4)

That said, I've been running a medium weight spindle oil in mine to cut down on leakage. Lightweight oil in my lathe seems like it comes out just as fast as I can pour it in. Medium weight not so much.

[JScott]

My headstock leaks just a little from the outboard seal. I started looking into replacing it and it's an inexpensive seal but couldn't figure out how to get shaft out. Another good winter project. 
Thanks for the tip on the oil. I'll snoop around in town today.

[rleete]

Look in automotive parts stores for "air compressor oil". That is a pretty standard lubricant and should be equivalent to light/medium weight.

[Highpower]

(11-08-2024, 06:47 AM)JScott Wrote: My headstock leaks just a little from the outboard seal. I started looking into replacing it and it's an inexpensive seal but couldn't figure out how to get shaft out. Another good winter project. 
Thanks for the tip on the oil. I'll snoop around in town today.

My lathe leaks mostly from the rear of the saddle where the shaft for the carriage feed comes out. I've had it all apart to seal all the bolt threads that go all the way through to the inside of the saddle. That stopped some minor leaking around the bolts. but where the carriage feed shaft goes through the apron there is no bushing, seal or o-ring of any kind. The shaft just runs inside a hole bored through the casting and acts like a total loss oiling system. I had planned on machining out the apron and installing a bronze sleeve to close the gap, and maybe an o-ring somehow but of course never got a round-tuit.

[JScott]

(11-08-2024, 07:57 AM)rleete Wrote: Look in automotive parts stores for "air compressor oil".  That is a pretty standard lubricant and should be equivalent to light/medium weight.

Thanks for the tip and I'll keep hunting.