To flush or not

[neanderman]

Planning to close up the headstock and put some oil in it. Debating if I should wash it down before filling it, maybe with some kerosene?

[spro]

Sure but then there is kerosene film. How does it flush and you already cleaned the gunk/chips. The thing s to not allow kerosene to become part of the makeup of the gears and bearings lubrication. Swab it out. It was good but get it out.
Swabbing is another thing for paper towels and wrong cloths impart fibers which can change bearing preload. Russ and others recommend the blue towels which don't release as much fibers. These little fibers around precision bearings .....not good.

[Harold_V]

Heh! The price of kerosene may well be the same as the required oil. Could be you'd be well served to put in enough oil for proper circulation, to collect any included crud, then run it at low rpm, no load. When I was satisfied I had picked up any unwanted trash, I'd then drain. Refill with the correct oil and you should be good to go.

If you've done your work well, kept things very clean, and have kept the headstock covered to prevent dirt from entering, could be none of this would be necessary. Especially if you've used air for cleaning, ensuring that parts didn't go in dirty. That's my normal procedure. Wash in Stoddard solvent, dry with air, then assemble with clean hands.

Harold

[neanderman]

Thanks for the input. I'll go with the oil, circulate, drain, refill option.

I have kept it covered and I swabbed it out when I drained the old oil. Nothing in the headstock was removed except for the thrust bearing on the feed rod connection, so it should be pretty clean.

[Glenn Brooks]

Ed, +1 what Harold said. Headstock oil in old lathes is usually non detergent. So left sitting, products of wear settle out into the sump and anywhere else throughout the gear train they happen to be when the lathe was turned off last. When I flushed the headstock on my old 1950's engine lathe, I could see I didn't get all the residue . So swabbed the case and flushed with diesel, then operated the lathe at slow speed-no load or about 15 -20 seconds. This flushed out a lot more gunk, including metal shavings, that was entrained in the gears. Drained the diesel and flushed oil again. Operated for 30 seconds etc etc, then drained. Might have done it a third time - can't remember. When it came out clean I filled it up with oil for daily operation.

Glenn

[neanderman]

Thanks for the input, Glenn. Yesterday I got the quick change box, oil pump and various covers reinstalled; hope to get oil in her tomorrow.