Hello all,

It's probably past time to get some proper way oil. You seem to be in
complete agreement on using it for the ways because it will stay in place.

What do the oil ports by the dials lubricate? Which oil should I use
there? I am particularly interested because the left "dial" is my power
feed; I need to remove the feed to get to the port. I don't care much
for me; it seems a shame to have to mess around with the feed unit. Is
there a way to oil the relevant parts from below? It seems the maker of
the feed could have put a hole in the thing to provide access to the
port?? I am really enjoying the feed despite the small annoyance of
reaching the oil port.

For the spindle, you guys seem to have some divergent opinions, or
perhaps I need to be very careful about the type of bearing in choosing
the oil - it was not clear in skimming the search results. I've been
shooting 30W in there because that's what I have on hand, and any clean
oil is better than no oil. Is spindle oil preferred for a Rong Fu 31?
So far, I have found only a port near the base of the spindle. Is there
any other place I should oil on the spindle? Pour it in the top, and
let it run down, etc.??

Speaking of the spindle, I was trying different speeds to prevent tear
out in some very soft (in spots at least) pine that I am using to make a
model for part of a gizmo I am designing, and had the mill running
fairly fast for a while. I noted that the spindle was (very) slightly
warm to the touch; not at all hot, just warm. Is that normal, or am I
not using enough or proper type of oil?

Back to the feed, somewhere in the manual I saw a mention of the kind of
grease they want for the plastic gear, and I can no longer find it.
IIRC, the said to avoid silicon??? Anybody know or simply have a
preference? Its still pretty gooey in there, but while I'm buying
lubricating gunk for the mill, I want to cover the bases. What about
lubricating the gear the engages the screw?

Are there any other types of lubricants I should be asking about?

While I am paying for shipping, I plan to get a scale and probably a few
more endmills. So far, I have a HSS starter set. Any recommendations
for branching out? A 1/2 inch endmill seems to work well for a lot of
what I have been doing, and obviously smaller radii can be useful at
times. Should I start by getting a couple of carbide endmills of sizes
that I find useful, or am I heading for trouble by not buying sizes in
between?

Thanks!

Bill

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 06:08:55 GMT, Bill Schwab
wrote:



While I am paying for shipping, I plan to get a scale and probably a few
more endmills. So far, I have a HSS starter set. Any recommendations
for branching out? A 1/2 inch endmill seems to work well for a lot of
what I have been doing, and obviously smaller radii can be useful at
times. Should I start by getting a couple of carbide endmills of sizes
that I find useful, or am I heading for trouble by not buying sizes in
between?

Thanks!

Some endmills you might find useful:

centercutting. Most 2 -flute mills will center cut. Some 4 flute
mills will, but most won't.

ball-end mills are handy for making round-bottom grooves and fillets.

woodruff keycutters are handy for making undercuts. Ditto dovetail
cutters.

A couple of slitting saws and a mandrel for them can be very useful.

Bill Schwab wrote in
hlink.net:

Hello all,

It's probably past time to get some proper way oil. You seem to be in
complete agreement on using it for the ways because it will stay in
place.


Shell Tonna 68 or equivilent is the way lube of choice for most
industrial machining equipment.

Spindle lubes vary so much, it would be hard to make a determination
here. If it is just a plain gearbox in a headstock, the 68 would probably
be just fine because of it's high-pressure and tacky characteristics.

--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

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