Ball oiler

[Yucholian]

What do you use to lube points that have ball oilers?
Recommended oil has high viscosity that rather than flowing down, it sits at the opening.
Any thoughts?

[Mike W]

I bought a mini grease gun at the auto parts store. I took out the spring and plunger and made a gasket for the cap so the oil doesn't leak. I replaced the zerk fitting with the needle type for the recessed grease fittings. It works well on the ball oilers.

[Swarf&Sparks]

This came up in a thread recently. I use a large hypodermic with heavy guage needle.

[BadDog]

I despise those things. I’ve tried several things and have not been happy with any of them. First I tried a piston oil can with a very pointed flexy snout. The conical point was used to push the ball down a bit before squirting. But the balls tended to seal against the end and still made a mess. So I made a very small slit across the point of the cone, and that worked better, but still messy and impossible to be sure how much made it inside.

I then made a “high pressure oiler” out of a small import grease gun ($9 variety) and that’s been the best. In fact, I have bought/made a couple of “quick change” ends for it that suit various chores. These include a syringe, 2 different size conical pointed “wands” (one is ~8” long to reach the ball oiler on the back gear shaft down inside my lathe head), and a ball tipped end that fits the flush “grease fittings”. Of course it still fits “standard grease fittings” as well. I already had one loaded with Vactra #2 used in my Bridgeport, so adding one that held ISO68 DTE was no big leap...

Along with this I modified my lathe cross slide and saddle to use “grease fittings” (aka “zirks”, “alemites”, etc.) so that I can shoot pressurized lube right into the middle of the ways. Not only does this fill a small reservoir I created for sustained lube (along with lube galleys as well), but it also tends to flush crap out from under there rather than carry it in.

[dan s]

this was the recent thread Swarf is talking about.

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=22601

[Tinkerer]

This is the type of Oil Can that I use for my ball oiler points. Allows good control of oil... single drops at a time. Not my sale nor do I know this seller... just did a search.

[mark61]

The idea behind the ball oiler is that you add a few drops EVERYDAY or atleast every time you use the machine. You don't have to put alot in everytime.
It is a PIA.

mark61

[SGW]

I don't mind the ones on my lathe carriage, but there were a couple on the head of my milling machine that were totally impossible to use. I finally pulled them out and replaced them with oil cups.

[lugnut]

My Grizzly G0516 has all ball type oilers and I just happen to of had a old pump oil can in my collection that works just fine. I has a removable cone shaped tip that fits great in the ball oil holes and when pressed down on seals the hole and forces the oil in with very little leakage. The tip is screwed on and could be changed or duplicated with some ease.
Mel

[Yucholian]

Thanks for the responses.
Lots of good ideas. I think ball oilers should be outlawed on vertical surfaces...