My first stupid question - Sorry

[MickCheese]

My Axminister mini lathe BV20-M has an oil sight glass.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I need to fill with oil to the centre of the glass, like I would on my motorbike.

But

Do I fill it when cold, do I run it up to temperature and wait for the level to stabilise or, not sure I want to open the lid when running, do I fill it when running?

And

I can't find a filler hole. Do I remove the lid and fill from there?

Regards

Mick

 

[Rorschach]

I can't find close up pics of that lathe but if there is no hole then yes fill from the top. Is there a mark on the sight glass? If so fill to that mark, if not I would fill to just under the top of the sight glass. Fill it while cold and don't sweat about it, lathes are not like motor vehicles.

 

[MickCheese]

Thanks for the reply. Will pop lid off and peer inside.

 

[porker]

Most important is to make sure it doesn't run empty. My old Myford has a total loss system so I fill up the headstock reservoir and oil all the other points copiously. If yours takes ISO32 oil (hydraulic oil) then it can be bought cheaply in 5 litre containers from any farm supplier. Small quantities of Nuto32 are quite an expensive way of buying it.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[MickCheese]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Rorschach]

Exact oil is usually not required, especially for hobbyists. Something near enough to the viscosity required will do the job and don't bother with fancy oil either, like I said, it's not a vehicle and you are not in a production environment.
My Myford also runs a total loss system except for a small sump in the carriage. I use whatever cheap motor oil I have to hand, usually 5W30 it's plenty good enough and so much cheaper than the recommended oils for Myford lathes.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

:lol: I always worked the theory that plenty of any oil is better than a shortage of the correct one.

 

[Rorschach]

:lol: I always worked the theory that plenty of any oil is better than a shortage of the correct one.

I agree with that one.

 

[hawkeyefxr]

Better to overfull the sight glasses than under fill because it WILL run out when your engrossed in what you are doing. Bit different from a bike as there will be oil around the system that returns when you start it up depending on what type of pump is fitted.