one-shot oiler

I would like to add a one-shot oiler to my mill, but I don't want to pay >$300 for a Bijur system because it seems like something I could make with little difficulty.

Anyone know how the flow from the single piston pump is metered to the several individual lube points? Are those just orifices? If so, anyone know about what size these orifices might be? The target machine is a Bridgeport J-head mill with 9 x 42 table. The lube points are all there with zerks but some of them are a bit of a PITA to get at.

Reply to
Don Foreman
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No they are not just orifices. They are little check valves with a spring and a plunger so that for each pulse of the pump exactly one drop is released. There is also a screen in there. On machines that have sat too long these gell up easy and have to be replaced. I just though I'd mention it for those who want to buy old CNC machines. I've seen good machines ruined because of no lubricant flow to the ballscrews.

I replaced all the metering fitting on an Excelo HBM with orifices then checked for flow every where. Worked pretty good. Used up the way-ube faster and more of the lube got in the sump though. If you want a lot of lube and don't mind the extra mess then making you own should work.

Bud

Reply to
starbolins

The one shot oilers are designed so that every lube point gets the proper amount of oil. It takes about 50 lbs of pressure to activate all the oilers in the system. The metered oilers themselves are rated in the quantity of oil delivered by a number stamped on them. 3/0, 2/0, 1/0 and 1 to 5. This allows you to put more oil in the places where more oil is needed and less on surfaces like the knee slides. You can clean the metered fittings with solvent but you better check them by pumping oil through them. Also make sure the little arrow stamped on the side of them is pointing in the direction of the oil flow. The metered fittings are made in all different configurations so beware. Ive seen ways ruined because someone mixed up the metered fittings. Bijur makes metered fittings and also continious flow orifices. The continious flow orifices run at a lot lower pressure and are not as widely used as the metered fittings.

Any pump would work with the metered fittings as long as it has a relief valve or some way to bleed off the pressure or the metered fitting will not reset.

John

Reply to
John

Hey Don. The teacher at school is considering putting one-shot oilers on the other 2 or 3 mills and I couldn't get any reply from Bijur via e-mail. Do you have any ideas on how to go about getting the parts to do the mods? ...lew...

Reply to
Lew Hartswick

OK, that's helpful. Any idea how many cm^3 (or whatever) of oil each size meter delivers per shot? Also, which sizes are typically used on the various fittings on a B'Port J-head manual mill?

Perhaps for a one-off HSM job it'd be easier to make a little manifold of little pumps that can be individually actuated. Perhaps those could just be holes in a block, each with a little checkvalve and piston. It's not hard to tell when (and where) my mill needs a bit of lube: I can feel the increased drag on the cranks, at least in X and Y and I don't move the knee all that often.

Reply to
Don Foreman

Don -

Can said pump push a rod ? Spec so. Have a 'bucket' within the rod and have it pass over a drain hole. Have it fill up on one end and if you want it slower then have a timer that turns on when the rod drops the oil - e.g. extended - stopping the motor until the time out occurs.

Something like that ?

Martin

Mart> I would like to add a one-shot oiler to my mill, but I don't want to

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

I suppose contact the distributor in your area.

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Enco sells the pumps for $43 (Enco) and maybe twice that for Bijur but there is no mention of metering units.

Keep us posted on what you find out. They don't look difficult to make, but I wouldn't mind buying them if they're anything like reasonably priced.

On the other hand, I don't have to be "practical" so I'm sorta leaning toward a manifold of individual very small pumps so I can lubricate just what needs lube when it needs it and perhaps minimize periodic cleanup of excess oil. Ball bearing checkvalves certainly aren't hard to make, nor reamed holes with pistons that fit close enough to do the job, maybe with O-ring or teflon seals though I doubt that would even be necessary. I'm thinking something like the little plungers found on small bottle jacks and grease guns, maybe even scaled down some.

Reply to
Don Foreman

You should be able to find everything you need by contacting these people:

Emrick Machinery Sales

2626 East Jensen Ave. Fresno CA 93706

(559) 233-6115 (559) 233-4834 (fax)

They have a web site with all the pertinent information----but I don't recall how I found it. Armed with the name, if you do a search for Bijur, I think you'll find them.

Luck!

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

You can expect to pay anywhere from $8 to $10 per unit, and you'd need 10 of them if you duplicate a factory installation. I recently had to replace all of mine because my mill sat idle for years. John mentioned that they gel up. He's right. Soaking them endlessly in various strong solvents had no effect. Replacement, in my case, was the only thing that worked.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

Pull the orifices, and attach each one to a grease gun filled with kerosene. Be sure to pump into the proper end.

Pump as necessary, then remove and dump into a coffee can filled with Kero for a day or two. Repeat with greasegun as necessary. This will blow out the spooge pretty well.

Gunner

Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do. Robert A. Heinlein

Reply to
Gunner Asch

I have all the info at the shop and a full stock of bijur parts since I do commercial maintenance on cnc and manual machines. I will not clean the fittings in a customers machine, only replace with new ones. I recommend cleaning out your lube oil reservoir every couple of months to get any bacterial growth out of it. I remove all the oil lines at the metering fitting and flush the system with a mixture of light oil and kerosene to remove any crap in the lines before I replace the fittings. Also an antibacterial agent would help too. Be sure not to get any water in the bottom. One drop will set up a colony of bacteria that feed on the oil and live in the water and generate a snot that will clog up everything. On a genuine bijur pump there is a filter screen on the bottom of the pump that will get clogged. They are easy to clean but the felt should be replaced.

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This site should have all the info on the bijur metering fittings.

John

Reply to
John

Hoppe's gun cleaning stuff will clean them if nothing else works.

If you want to selectively lube each way then just run lines up to a common point with oil caps and get a oilcan.

John

Reply to
John

A lot of machines use grease rather than oil. Just make sure your ways are not going to get any fines on them or you will have a gob grinding compound when the metal fines and the grease mix. Oil is less likely to hold the metal fines but rather flush them away.

John

Reply to
John

Thank you, Harold! That's what I wanted to know. That cost seems reasonable enough. I'm now leaning toward "lube as needed where needed when needed" rather than "lube everything when anything needs it and clean up the surplus", though I certainly see the merit of the latter approach in a real working shop or school shop.

I'll bet you could clean out gelled and clogged metering gizmos by forcing solvent thru them backwards with a greasgun, but for a guy whose time is money it surely makes more sense to replace them.

I see from Bijur's website that they have little filters in them, probably sintered metal. If those are what get clogged, then applying solvent with backpressure might just blow the clogged filter out so you'd need a new one anyway.

Reply to
Don Foreman

I'm thinking hand-operated pump(s), no motors or electronics. Think little permanantly-plumbed greasguns shooting shots of oil. KISS.

Guilty admission: I have been lubricating my mill for 20 years with a greasegun and moly-D grease. (Chorus of anguished screams and jeers goes here...)

My only defense is that it has worked out OK, grease hasn't turned to glue in situ so far. Mr. B tells me when he'd like a shot of lube here or there, I accommodate and he resumes moving very nicely indeed

-- though fuggedaboudit if the temp in the shop drops much below 55. That said, I am about ready to repent and reform with injections of way oil rather than good grease.

Reply to
Don Foreman

Having dismantled the original fittings once (no---they're not intended to be dismantled. They're swaged closed), I concluded that almost anything you try is a waste of time----there's a felt filter inside that gets varnished. All the solvent in the world wouldn't break it down to satisfaction, but once removed and crushed well, the crud was liberated. That after soaking them for a couple days in various solvents, all with no effect.

Once cleaned by dismantling, they didn't last long when put back in service. It's almost as if once they've formed the varnish, it's a catalyst for more. When I replaced them, I forced 1,1,1, trichloroethane through the system, then blew it out with air. Filtered all the Vactra on hand through a lab filter (left over from my gold refining days), and started from scratch with new metering ports. Best thing I ever did. It is painfully obvious that the machine had gone into a decline and was not getting everything properly oiled. Considering the consequences of not oiling where needed, even as cheap as I am, and I'm damned close to the dollar, I wouldn't recommend cleaning them. Even if you can re-establish flow, it may not be proper.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 03:40:21 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Gunner Asch quickly quoth:

Pretty neat fix. (Filing for future use)

I love it!

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Where did you get the parts for your system? I've got an Excello vertical mill which works pretty well but the oiling system leaks like a sieve. I've taken apart the compression fittings a couple times at the manifolds, but they seem to be some weird fitting. That's not to mention the head, which has a nasty habit of puking oil at inopportune moments, like when I'm tilting it for some weird setup. ww88

Reply to
woodworker88

Don, How 'bout just ONE pump, and a multi-directional selector valve??? Ken.

Reply to
Ken Sterling

That'd work. Maybe some sort of spool valve?

Reply to
Don Foreman

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