"stanley baer" wrote in message
...
I have a large Monarch lathe built in 1944. It has a geared head,a
plain bearing spindle and some sort of oiling pump to lubricate it. I
use the machine about once a week for half an hour or so at a time, I
live in Canada and my shop is unheated. The belt drive setup was
originally setup for a maximum speed of 500 RPM but I changed it so that
it goes up to 1000 RPM because I came across a very similar Monarch
lathe set up this way from the factory.

I noticed it was low on oil and I was in a rush to fix my tractor so I
added 4 litres of 10W30 motor oil that I had on hand to get it to the
proper level. Is this ok or have I done something stupid?

stan

You never use detergent oil in a lathe, mill, etc. that does not have
circulating oil pump and a filter!

Detergent oil keeps particles in suspension, which means that the particles
are always going to be wearing away metal. Non-detergent oil allows
particles to settle to the bottom, where that don't do any harm and can be
removed by washing out, whenever the oil is changed. Multiweight oil when
cold/cool is always the lighter of the viscosity number. In effect you have
put 10 weight oil into your machine. Then there is the concern of what are
the detergent additives doing. Are they collecting moisture (likely), are
they compatible with your bearings (old type solid bearings if used), with
your seals? Maybe Ok to use in an emergency by it should be changed.

Jim