Old nipples and tools (Pic heavy)

[brewdexta]

Guys

I'm just looking at the grease nipples and oiling points on my old machinery before I put them to use. For example these grease nipples on my mill



and this oiling point on my Colchester tail stock


I'm not familiar with using this type of grease nipples but thought it may be an opportunity to use a job lot of grease guns and oiling bits I bought at a farm sale about 10 years ago, this is just some of them



This one


and this one


have this type of nozzle and I think its used for the grease nipples I've shown


while this one


has a different nozzle as follows and I think is used for oil and the type of oiling point shown on the Colchester although I've just used a bog standard oil can in the past


can any body confirm this before I clean all the crap out and fill them with new oil/grease?

Cheers
Andy

 

[gordon stephenson]

most of thoese nipples look like oiling points to me,grease nipples would be protruding, and fit into the spherical recess on the gun,or the more heavy duty type,where the gun nozzle slides on to a flat faced nipple,

 

[ford34/2]

Nipples

Do double check that the "ways" and friction areas require GREASE, I`m more inclined to think oil, and the very last thing you want to do is stuff grease into an oil one.
Second the theory the "nipples" would be different for a Grease gun,
Harrison Lathes are all OIL, motor is grease.

Stan

 

[brewdexta]

Thanks Guys, your right, glad you got me to check before I squirted grease down 'em. Its says Springwell oilers in the manual and I assumed this was the type with cup and lid as I'd seen elsewhere and referred to the two on the machine not these nipples.

And I was looking forward to using my ancient grease guns too as I've been tripping over them for years.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Paul99]

I was going to reply with the same response that they surely must be oiling points not grease but been beaten to it. The idiot that sold me my old lathe inherited it from his deceased uncle he knew nothing about machinery but the helpful person he was decided to grease it all up for me whilst I was on the way to collect it so it was all ready to go when I got home .

Its taken me me 2 nights so far of dismantling and cleaning the gunk out so it can be oiled properly and is just about done now. I've so far struggled to find an oil gun to fit the dome headed nipples so for now will have to make do with screwing them out adding oil then replacing them. Not a long term solution though maybe I can get an old Tecalemit grease gun as in your picture to dispense oil instead.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

One old trick about using grease guns is to put a piece of clean cotton cloth between the nipple and nozzle. It helps make a far better seal plus filters anything that might have crept into the grease.

Paul H

 

[brewdexta]

I nearly was the idiot that filled them full of grease At least I asked, I would like to think I would have worked it out, at least read the manual properly

I'm going to have a play with the variety of old tools and see which one works best for oiling these, and I'll try Paul's tip too. The black tool in the first picture is full of oil, the rest are either empty or have grease in them, the previous owner had loads of old tractors, mainly Fordson and David Brown plus other assorted old farm machinery so I guess they must have a proper use.

So what is the correct tool for oiling these springwell oilers? And what kind of grease nipples are the tools I have intended for?

Cheers
Andy

 

[scott0031]

Just to confirm they are oiling points. You normally use a normal oil can and push the ball in with the spout then give a squirt.


Kind regards,


Scott

 

[brewdexta]

Just to confirm they are oiling points. You normally use a normal oil can and push the ball in with the spout then give a squirt.

Thanks Scott, looks like my speculative purchase of a pile of old grease guns was a waste
Cheers
Andy

 

[ronan]

I was going to ask this question a while ago as i have a tom senior too, thank gawd brewdexta beat me too it. Anyway what type of oil can do you need to get the oil into these oiling points ? Normally i use a small screwdriver blade to depress the ball and drop oil in from an ordinary oil can, this is fine if they are on a horizontal surface but the vertical ones can't be done that way. Don't want to coat the entire machine in oil.

 

[scott0031]

Well if you think of the era these types of machines were made it will give you a clue to the sort of oil cans around at that time.

Normal old fashioned oil can with a thin steel outlet tube. The idea is the end of the tube is small enough to depress the sprung loaded ball, this allows the oil to pass over the ball into the orifice. I would think a small syringe would also work pretty well, with a bit better control than an oil can.


Kind regards,


Scott

 

[brewdexta]

I found this thread on this topic, I have some tinkering time this afternoon while the kids go climbing and will try out my ancient telescopic pump action greasers but filled with oil to find out which nozzle fits best.

 

[DuffyBB]

You sure you haven't attacked them already with grease?

 

[brewdexta]

No - honest Duffy! I've been too busy scraping layers of hammerite and rust off the mill to get to the more usual tasks of lubrication. I used to rush and do stupid things however as I get older I tend to remember the old adage about the young bull the old bull and the field of cows (if you haven't heard it google it)

Doesn't mean I still don't make mistakes though! But not this time, I wasn't sure so I asked, that's the beauty of this forum, always somebody with the knowledge.

Cheers
Andy

 

[MattF]

It likely wouldn't have mattered even if you had pumped grease into most of them. If it's just a sliding/rotating surface, the grease would have worked as well, and the later applications of oil would have flushed the grease out eventually.

Just for reference, those little plunger type motorcycle greasers you have, (the second and fourth in your photo), work quite well on the ball type oilers.

 

[ronan]

Are you going to make up the column spacer to give you more height in the z-axis brewbexta ? I have had to do a few jobs a different way or not at all because i hadn't the height between work piece and the drill or cutter.

 

[brewdexta]

Are you going to make up the column spacer to give you more height in the z-axis brewbexta ? I have had to do a few jobs a different way or not at all because i hadn't the height between work piece and the drill or cutter.

Hi Ronan
Not initially, I'll see how it goes first and get everything back up and running. I've also got the light vertical to play with yet
Cheers
Andy

 

[brewdexta]

Well I had a bit of a play, with very predictable results from the answers I've received. A bit embarrassed I started this thread but its got to be better than watching Eastenders, even attacking your John Thomas with a cheese grater is preferable to that

Firstly, the pump action old timer


Didn't get any through the oiler, all ended up on the floor, bit blurry as I had the camera in my left hand while pumping with my right but you can see the results on the floor (several double entendre opportunities there! )



I skipped the rest and went to a bog standard oil can


worked lovely, job done



Cheers
Andy