Are these grease ports?

[Mike Dowell]

Just wondering if these are holes for oil, grease, or otherwise. Any thoughts?

The top cap flips open, and is spring loaded.

[allen thunem]

my guess is they are oil cups

[Mike Dowell]

I'll look into that. Also, I just ordered a live center for this (MT2), and then I looked int he drawers and found this!

Is that legit? Looks like a two piece, as it has the center which I guess is MT1, then an adapter to get it to MT2. Any reason I shouldn't use this one and just send the new one back?

Also, I found a bunch of these:

What are all of those?

[Bruce Page]

Those are oil cups not grease ports. The sleeves are standard Morse taper adapters used commonly in the machine shop world. The last picture is old machine shop tooling including dead centers, more MT adapters, an old cutting tool holder, cutting tools and tapered drifts.

[Mike Dowell]

Those are oil cups not grease ports. The sleeves are standard Morse taper adapters used commonly in the machine shop world. The last picture is old machine shop tooling including dead centers, more MT adapters, an old cutting tool holder, cutting tools and tapered drifts.

Do the cups come out? They are dirty, and possibly filled with sawdust I would imagine. Should I take this thing apart and service it? Who knows if it is ready to go in terms of lubrication, etc. It *does* work, but I like to know my car has fresh oil before I drive it around.

[Bruce Page]

Typically they are a press fit, I don't know if you can remove them without damaging them. I would clean them with a Q-tip as best I could, add oil and not worry about it. It is not a sophisticated piece of machinery.

[Doug Ladendorf]

Mike, how about a full picture of the lathe? What make and model is it?

Doug

[Wes Ramsey]

I have a couple of those on an old rock polisher motor. It was squeaking and getting hotter than I cared for so I dropped some machine oil in the holes. Apparently that lubes the bearings and they greatly needed and appreciated the lube.

[Marvin Hasenak]

The extra part with the live center looks like a Tailstock quill, not a MT2 adapter. There is no taper on the outside.

[Brice Rogers]

I have an Atlas metal cutting lathe and it too has oil cups. On mine it is called a flow-through lubrication, meaning that you oil the spindle bearings before each use as the oil drizzles through. Some of those lathes had a piece of felt in the top of the oil cup to temporarily hold the oil and disburse it more slowly. Some also had some yarn going downwards to help direct the oil. So, if it is not sawdust in there, it may be felt and should not be dug out.

Some people with this vintage machinery try to overthink the lubrication issue trying to identify exotic oils. My advice would be to go to the auto parts store and buy some ND20 or ND30 (ND stands for non-detergent). But honestly, it probably doesn't matter if you use regular car oil or ND oil. The important thing is to keep it oiled. Perhaps every time you use it. If you notice that it is getting hot, add some more.

The tray of hardware is for a metal cutting lathe. Tool bits, tool holder for lantern tool post, dead centers, etc.

[dan petroski]

clean your oil cups with a twist drill.. that will auger the gunk out and not tend to jam it down further. someone may have put grease in it. in that case take the tailstock out and try to block both ends and use compressed air to try to blow the grease out.Dan