Leaking single point oiling system.

[BCRider]

A thread about adding oiling points to lathes that I just read got me thinking about tackling the leaky single point pump setup on my mill. Ever since I got it the darn system syphons away the oil from the pump over a few weeks and leaves a puddle in the base of the mill. Probably less than 1/10 of the oil was actually pumped by me into the ways and lead screws.

Some of it seems to be leakage from the fittings on the distribution block. I need to strip it down and re-do all the connections to see if I can dry it out. But some seemed to be simply syphoning out and down the table lift screw line and maybe one of the other lower placed lines. The lift screw and little pedestal for it on the base is always shiny with new oil.

Is this just the nature of the beast with these setups or is this sort of thing not supposed to happen? Did any of you have a similar issue with single point oiling? Did you manage to fix it somehow or do you simply live with the waste and cleanup?

[Doozer]

After the machine's parts get oiled,
where do you think the oil goes ??
To the bottom of the base,

-Doozer

[BCRider]

Doozer, that I can live with. The issue is the other 95% wastage that syphoned out of the system and over the base without doing anything useful. But thanks for playing even if you didn't actually read the post.

[nickel-city-fab]

Getting siphoned out is not normal I would think. What little experience I have with "one-shot" oilers was on machines that were meticulously maintained since new by an old German guy with absolutely no sense of humour. Every morning and afternoon he would go round and top up all the oil tanks, give the one-shot a squirt, and wipe everything down.

[dalee100]

Hi,

It's often hard to tell where the leak is until you got 99% of the machine apart. But I think you are on the right path with a leaking fitting. Could maybe be a leaky check valve too - though less likely I think.

Good Luck in getting it located!

[140mower]

If the repair gets too pesky, is it possible to put a ball valve between the pump and the distribution block? More of a kludge than a repair, but it might stem the tide a little.

[Canus]

Interesting! I've never seen a mill with a one shot oil pump located high enough to allow the oil to "siphon". Where is your one shot pump located?

[BCRider]

It's not that far up. It's on the side of the table and the distribution block is up under the table support on the other side of the web that has the pump attached. I don't know if it'll show in the picture but the level of oil in the pump is where it finally got to after about 3 months of slowly leaking away and only getting actually pumped to the machine maybe 6 times. Along the way checking the distribution block did show some oil on the block and lines and a drip. Which is why I'm assuming now that it's likely a leaking connector. I looked quickly at it a while back and wasn't sure if the oil on the block was from a leak or if it was running down from above. After all Doozer is right that ALL the oil will eventually leak to the base. I'm quite OK with the idea that some of the excess that gets pumped to the ways will come out and run back along the outside of the lines and make a bit of a mess. Just not coming into the shop to find literally a pool of oil in the base from the leaking.

I know that I'm putting the cart before the horse by asking about leaks before I even did any teardown and inspection of the lines. It was late at night when I posted after being reminded of my leaky system by another thread on oiling machines. I'm really more interested in how many of you find that your own similar systems run pretty dry or if this sort of leaking is fairly common and simply tolerated,

EDIT- the pictures deal here is still a little wonky so sorry for the mixed posting. It's also rather random on how to "fix" it.

I also see from the shot looking up the skirt of my mill that I should grease the bevel gears for the table lift and scrape away that last bit of the protective gunk that was over everything when it came.

[nickel-city-fab]

That looks pretty much like every other "one shot" oiler that I've ever seen. Is it one of those situations where the pump knob or lever has to be all the way in and "seated" to seal off the system after the stroke?

[Doozer]

Normally those Bijur fittings fail by clogging closed.
Not often do they fail by sticking open,
but who knows. Dirt typically stops them up, but
I guess dirt could keep the check valve open.
Being not genuine Bujur and likely Chinese,
their ain't no tellin', as they say.

-Doozer

[BCRider]

That looks pretty much like every other "one shot" oiler that I've ever seen. Is it one of those situations where the pump knob or lever has to be all the way in and "seated" to seal off the system after the stroke?

No idea but I'll check out that option. Thanks for that thought.

It's the first time I've ever even touched a single point setup.

Doozer, given that it is Asian I'm thinking that perhaps one of the tubing ends was cut badly, crushed or at a high angle, and might not be fitting the seal correctly. We'll see I guess.

[dalee100]

Interesting! I've never seen a mill with a one shot oil pump located high enough to allow the oil to "siphon". Where is your one shot pump located?

Hi,

Had a Milltronics CNC mill that would do that over the course of a weekend. Never fixed it. Oil was cheaper than the down time.

[Mark Rand]

Normally those Bijur fittings fail by clogging closed.
Not often do they fail by sticking open,
but who knows. Dirt typically stops them up, but
I guess dirt could keep the check valve open.
Being not genuine Bujur and likely Chinese,
their ain't no tellin', as they say.

-Doozer

Note that Bijur manufacture in China as well. My milling machine is fitted with genuine Chinese (metric) Bijur fittings and pumps.

I'd worry if the system were syphoning. There should be enough resistance in the pump non-return valves to stop that from happening with the locations shown in the photo. Mine pumps three CC per stroke of the pump and that's a surprisingly large amount. It does end up on the floor and the base of the machine...

[nickel-city-fab]

I'd worry if the system were syphoning. There should be enough resistance in the pump non-return valves to stop that from happening with the locations shown in the photo...

Aha! That may well be it! It may be completely wrong to do, but I would be very very tempted to completely flush the system with kerosene and then see what happens with the non-return valves. Willing to bet they are galled, sticking, or gummed up. Hopefully just gummed.

[ATW]

In the year I've owned my similar mill I've topped the oil up (to half way from low mark) three or four times, so if it was siphoning/leaking I think it would have required topping up more frequently. I give it a shot of oil most days of use, I guess on average three days a week.

It does in time pool in the base, but I'd say that is just what is draining from the ways over time.

Hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like it might be a different installation on your mill, the pipework and manifold are definitely different and maybe the reservoir/pump - mine is very similar if not identical to that on the Grizzly G0801/0802/0822.

I found the Grizzly manuals far superior to those supplied with my mill:

• https://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g0801_m.pdf
• https://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g0822_m.pdf

Andy