My lathe is throwing oil at me from behind the chuck. I like this lathe a lot. I've been using it for a couple of decades. I'd like to get that oil slinging problem fixed.
There are no seals in the headstock; it uses a "labyrinth" slinger method of oil management.
One guy I talked to asked if I ever turn plastic. (Yes, I do, fairly often) He said he'd seen this before: fine delryn or nylon swarf somehow gets in behind the chuck and plugs an internal drain hole.
The lathe is an Enterprise 1550 made by Mysore Kirloskar Electric in India.
(This is probably where Larry Jaques insensitively and rudely asks what I did to my Kirloskar to make it sore.)
It (the lathe, not my Kirloskar) looks a lot like a Clausing Colchester, and I think that the maker had a relationship with Colchester at one time back in the early '70s. I've been told that this method of headstock oil management is used on some Colchesters.
I located the nuts that preload the spindle bearings, made a spanner and got them off. The gears on the spindle in the headstock slide freely, now that grub screws and circlips have been removed. From looking at the drawings (I have the manual) I can see no reason why the D1-4 camlock spindle shouldn't just slide out toward the tailstock so I can get in there to clean out a plugged drain hole. But I can't get the damned spindle to budge. I've pried on it and hit it a few times with a big brass hammer.
I thought I had a professional on deck to come help me with this but it appears that he's flaked on me.
Any informed or experienced ideas or suggestions? I really don't want to barf up the spindle bearings.