Rockwell Mill (21-100) Question

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platypus20
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Location: camillus, ny (syracuse)

Rockwell Mill (21-100) Question

Post by platypus20 »

does anyone know of an easy way lube the X ways on the mill?? The rest of the mill is easy, if not a little messy, to lube, getting the underside of the ways is somewhat of a challenge. I can move the table to the max in one direction, exposing about 2" of the bottom of the X ways, spread a little way oil, the move the table to the other extreme, and do that again. But most of the oil is just pushed off by the table movement and drips down the side of the knee casting.
jack
pete
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Re: Rockwell Mill (21-100) Question

Post by pete »

Easy? Yes. You didn't specify cheap and uncomplicated :-) and I doubt you haven't already thought of it. Add a one shot lube system. Comparing my lathe to my mill with it's factory one shot there is no comparison. My guess is it's is a lot more common to see mills with one than lathes simply because on company owned equipment there much more likely to get oiled with the ease of one or two pumps than going through the contortions of doing it by hand on a mill. All those stupid ball oilers on my lathe make me wish it had a one shot on it anytime it gets oiled. If it can be kept clean I find for slides a can of oil and a cheap paint brush sized to the slides does a far better job than trying to squirt oil out of the usual oil can on slide surfaces where gravity is fighting against you. The off shore one shot pumps, lines and restrictors are a lot more reasonable than buying from Bijur that's for sure and that's what my mill has. It seems to work well so far. If I ever bought another mill that didn't come with a one shot I know it would be high on my list to install one. It is a fair amount of work to add it though. Arc Euro Trade in the UK has or had some good information on there website about adding them even to a Myford lathe and how to size the correct restrictors if it interests you. They even sell all the parts but shipping from the UK is pricy. Shipping seems to be calulated automaticaly with there website but phoning the order in gets you a lot better and more realistic shipping price.
choprboy
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Re: Rockwell Mill (21-100) Question

Post by choprboy »

I usually crank it to either extreme and shoot some way oil in either end, wipe off and lay a bead of oil all the way along the back edge of the saddle, and then squirt some into the oil port on the front of the saddle. But yeah... its hard to get a good flush of oil, particularly on the front.
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platypus20
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Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:24 pm
Location: camillus, ny (syracuse)

Re: Rockwell Mill (21-100) Question

Post by platypus20 »

I put a one-shot oiling system, with restrictors, on 2 mills, those were easy, pipe to the existing oil ports, but the Rockwell has only one oil port. That's for the X table screw, none of the ways have oil ports. the thought of drilling into the way areas, is not real high on my list.

The ways are oiled, by oil, applied directly to the way surfaces, then moved around by movement of the table and/or knee.
jack
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