DIYbanter - View Single Post - Burke Millrite Spindle Bearings Access Plug

In article ,
(rohamm) wrote:

My access plug is just a plain allen screw.

That's how DC Morrison Man says a Millrite ships out. Either the
arrangement Steve Smith and I have on our quills is a common after market
mod or there was a period when the factory *did* make quill plugs that way
but then stopped (possibly because somebody realized what a pain it was to
get back into the quill with this type of plug).

What is curious is that while the manual doesn't refer to a flush grease
fitting in the quill plug in any text, the cross section diagram of the
quill on page 14 appears to show a cross section of the fitting inside the
plug. Additionally it shows it set into the plug deep enough to leave
room for an allen key.

Moot point now. I replaced my fittinged plug with a plain plug like
yours. 27 cents at my local industrial supply.

A guy at d.c. morrison told me the same thing - they just throw
in some straight 30 weight before using it. I use light spindle oil.

What I want to know is: what grease corresponds to the description given
in the manual? I forget the exact wording, but it involves 'sponge' and
'soap base', and goes on to say it's not all that important.

Per the manual;

"Sohio Sactram No. 2 or equivalent" otherwise described as "a shot
fibre, medium sponge grease with sodium soap base".

I happened across a brief technical blurb "About Grease" in the
McMaster-Carr catalogue at the begining of the listings for grease
products. It sheds a bit of light on what is meant by this but I had the
same reaction as you, what-n-a-hell is "a shot fibre, medium sponge
grease with sodium soap base" and where do I find it.

But it *does*
emphasize not to use too little or too much. Well, yeah, that's always good
advice. And useless, too.

The drawback to the spindle oil is that it ends up running out onto the work.
Since I frequently mill wood, that can be an issue. Hence my interest in
quantifying 'not too little, and not too much, but just the right amount'.

I'm a great believer in empiricism, but not in this instance.

Again I came away with the same impression as you. The manual states
twice in two paragraphs, the second instance in caps, how important it is
not to overfill the quill and then pointedly does not indicate what the
correct amount is or at least what a subjective indicator would be in
advance of the spindle bearings over heating. If it's that critical,
they ought to put a dipstick on the quill. (-8

I could be wrong but I'm inclined to think that over filling with oil
wouldn't be as likely to over heat the bearings as over filling with
grease. But then tending to over fill to be sure there's enough doesn't
help with dripping on the woodwork.

I recently discovered how useful the MIllrite is for precision routing
wood. On sections of wood smaller than the mill table travel distances,
it beats hell out of hand holding a router against a clamped straight edge
that needs to be reset for every cut. The only aggravation is keeping
the wood chips/saw dust off of the ways and out of the works. I've been
told the resins in wood chips/dust don't do the machined bearing surfaces
of the mill any good. Near term project for the Millrite is way covers
and/or way wipers.

Dennis van Dam

(Dennis van Dam) wrote in message
...
In article , (Donald
Nichols) wrote:

In article
,
Dennis van Dam wrote:
In article , Ned
Simmons
wrote:

[ ... ]

Look at McMaster-Carr p/n 10595K14. Does that look like
what you've got? If so, and the fitting is still OK, you'll
need something like p/n 1090K54.

[ ... ]

That's basically what it is only instead of being Style 3 your part
number
indicates it would be more like style 1 or style 2 which are round at the
OD instead of hex shaped.

[ ... ]

I could just leave the whole arrangement as is and, as you suggest, get a
special narrow coupler to get lube through the fitting to the spindle
bearings but that won't address removing the plug in the event that
I need
to adjust the preload on the spindle bearings.

Accordingly I finally decided to drill the fitting out so that I
could get
a hex key in and remove the plug.

Hmm ... one thing which I just thought of -- too late, I know --
was to take an appropriate sized hex key, cut off the bent end, and put
it in the lathe to bore out everything up to a diameter corresponding to
the dimension across the flats. This would give you something which
could slide in the little corners between the cylindrical body and the
hex screw socket. Not good for much torque, but probably enough to
unscrew the device, as the cylindrical part would give some support to
the fingers from collapsing.

[ ... ]

Either that or a predrilled plug was threaded into the quill and then the
flush grease fitting was set all the way in to the predrilled hole in the
plug but since the plug is already installed it doesn't matter that you
can no longer get a hex key in (thus a one way trip unless you drill the
fitting out).

Unless the modified hex key would work.

Good Luck,
DoN.

Don,

While the hex key configuration you describe did not occur to me, I did
realize there where tiny voids between the flush grease fitting OD and the
"points" of the hex socket. I briefly considered that there might be
some scant purchase to be obtained here but dismissed it fairly quickly as
being too tight a space to practically engage.

After I read your post I produced the geometry you describe in a quick CAD
sketch on the computer, just a .3125" circle arranged concentric to a
hexagon .3125" across the flats.

On a vector from any hex point oriented to the center of the hex-circle it
measures .026" from the hex point to the fitting OD........If I end
drilled the hex key sement very carefully and kept the depth of drilling
fairly short, say 1/16 to 1/8...........that *might* have worked. Even
if the drilling operation wasn't perfectly concentric to the hex key
segment and I only came away with 4 or 5 instead of all 6 "hex point
fingers", that might have been enough of a toe hold on the plug to get it
out.

On the other hand if who ever had just taken the time to configure the
plug-grease fitting arrangement such that there would be sufficient hex
socket depth left in the plug above the fitting, I wouldn't yet again be
reminded that Necessity is a real Mother. (-8

Thanks for the reply,

Dennis van Dam