Pump-type oil gun that doesn’t leak?

[iconParticipant @icon]

And that doesn’t need a mortgage to buy? I’ve been using a hopeless pump oil gun for years, to get oil into the sprung ball bearing fittings on my Myford lathe. Most just leaks all over the shop. I’ve occasionally looked at what seems to be the only worthwhile alternative, the (now) 80 quid Wanner gun that Myford and RDG sell. Is this really the only option, or has the community discovered something cheaper that works? Do I need to stop being so tight?

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

I’ve got one of these  Press Parts oil gun

I bought it after recommendation and it works fine. Several Myford users have given good reviews on the Press Parts Web site.

Rod

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

+1 for the press parts oil gun, mines a good few years old now and still fully continent, it’s the older one that does grease and oil, theres a newer black finished oil only gun on their website, although my old one works perfectly. I put up with the horrid Myford one for years, and tried several others before seeing the PP one recommended, by now must have saved enough leaked oil to have almost paid for it!

Dave

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

80 quid?? 35-40 (+VAT) from Stephens. Other dealers are available.

Oddly enough, I’ve got a Tecalemit oilier for the BCA jig borer which looks almost identical to the one supplied by Myfords for decades and it puts all of the oil into the bearings and none of it anywhere else. They are ball headed oilers instead of Myfords original flat topped ones though.

[Don CoxParticipant @doncox80133]

Use valvespout oilers on mine, the ones with the white plastic squeeze containers.  There is a modern equivalent “Pressol” type one out there too.  Work great on the original and “grease nipple” type oilers without spilling

[iconParticipant @icon]

Thanks – the link takes me to a silver grease gun – there’s a note at the bottom of the page which suggests ‘PP1081’ specifically for oil, which is a black one – which do you have?

 

[FulmenParticipant @fulmen]

I tried a grease gun similar to Jenkins links to, but it quickly started leaking. It’s as if the oil caused the rubber to shrink over time.

[JAParticipant @ja]

I bought a Wanner oil gun from the old Myfords company. It worked well for about five years and then oil started to leak passed the piston (the gun has a floating piston with seal that keeps the air and the oil appart in the cylinder). It still worked but would empty itself when not in use. I asked Myfords, now the RDG firm, about spare parts for Wanner guns and received a dry laugh.

It struck me that I could make a new piston and try to repear it or, if not, design and make my own. But I don’t really have the time. So I went and bought a new Wanner oil gun from Myfords. It has worked well for the last eight or so years.

JA

[icon]

On 29 July 2024 at 20:22 icon Said:

… I’ve been using a hopeless pump oil gun for years, to get oil into the sprung ball bearing fittings on my Myford lathe. Most just leaks all over the shop. …

This evergreen problem was discussed in a recent thread, which I can’t find. Evergreen because engineers started complaining about oilers the day they were invented.  Could be one of nature’s laws that no oiler shall dispense oil cleanly, so anyone who has a good one should cherish it!

Might be expected that paying £80 for a top-end oiler will guarantee complete satisfaction, but no.  Model Engineers are notorious for not spending money, and spending £80 on an oiler that performs no better than a plastic cheapy must be a bitter pill.  Whilst well-made pricey pumps are more likely to do a good job than a pound-shop bargain, don’t bet the farm on it.

What could possibly go wrong?  Lots!  For reasons beyond me, perhaps because they were cheap war surplus in 1946, Myford used Grease Nipples rather than Oil-points.   Four negative consequences:

1. Most oil-cans don’t fit grease nipples
2. I suspect grease nipples require more pressure to open the valve than oil, increasing the chance a wobbly or imperfectly aligned operator will break the seal.
3. A proportion of Myford owners and some of the dodgy folk who tart them up for resale, assume that grease nipples mean grease, not oil.   They block the oil-ways with grease, causing severe wear.
4. Replacing grease nipples with oil points is a reasonable modification.   Icon mentions his lathe is fitted with ‘sprung ball bearing fittings’, which could be either.   But don’t expect an expensive Wanner built to fit Myford grease nipples to seal properly on other fittings.

If a machine’s oil-ways are blocked by grease, or anything else, it will be very difficult to pump oil in –  ‘Most just leaks all over the shop‘.   If not certain, check the oil-ways are clear.

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

After years of using an oil can with the pointed nozzle turned down small enough to fit in the ball-bearing hole in the middle of the oil nipples on my Myford, I bought the PressParts oil gun and it works just as well as the old oil can with pointy nozzle.

[icon]

On icon Said:

Thanks – the link takes me to a silver grease gun – there’s a note at the bottom of the page which suggests ‘PP1081’ specifically for oil, which is a black one – which do you have?

I have the silver one.  It seems the black one has been more recently introduced.  It needs someone with £30 to spare to buy one and see if it is suitable for our purposes 😀

In general, as Fulmen has suggested, these pump oil guns depend on O rings to make them work.  I dismantled my Wanner and replaced an O ring after more oil started coming out of the sides than the end but this only worked for a short time.  Probably need to find a more specialised O ring –  Viton perhaps.

Rod

 

[Silly]

On Silly

If a machine’s oil-ways are blocked by grease, or anything else, it will be very difficult to pump oil in –  ‘Most just leaks all over the shop‘.   If not certain, check the oil-ways are clear.

Dave

On SillyOldDuffer Said:

On 29 July 2024 at 20:22 icon Said:

… I’ve been using a hopeless pump oil gun for years, to get oil into the sprung ball bearing fittings on my Myford lathe. Most just leaks all over the shop. …

This evergreen problem was discussed in a recent thread, which I can’t find. Evergreen because engineers started complaining about oilers the day they were invented.  Could be one of nature’s laws that no oiler shall dispense oil cleanly, so anyone who has a good one should cherish it!

Might be expected that paying £80 for a top-end oiler will guarantee complete satisfaction, but no.  Model Engineers are notorious for not spending money, and spending £80 on an oiler that performs no better than a plastic cheapy must be a bitter pill.  Whilst well-made pricey pumps are more likely to do a good job than a pound-shop bargain, don’t bet the farm on it.

What could possibly go wrong?  Lots!  For reasons beyond me, perhaps because they were cheap war surplus in 1946, Myford used Grease Nipples rather than Oil-points.   Four negative consequences:

1. Most oil-cans don’t fit grease nipples
2. I suspect grease nipples require more pressure to open the valve than oil, increasing the chance a wobbly or imperfectly aligned operator will break the seal.
3. A proportion of Myford owners and some of the dodgy folk who tart them up for resale, assume that grease nipples mean grease, not oil.   They block the oil-ways with grease, causing severe wear.
4. Replacing grease nipples with oil points is a reasonable modification.   Icon mentions his lathe is fitted with ‘sprung ball bearing fittings’, which could be either.   But don’t expect an expensive Wanner built to fit Myford grease nipples to seal properly on other fittings.

If a machine’s oil-ways are blocked by grease, or anything else, it will be very difficult to pump oil in –  ‘Most just leaks all over the shop‘.   If not certain, check the oil-ways are clear.

Dave

 

 

 

 

I’ve had it apart loads of times since I got it – certainly over 25 years ago 🙁 – the first time, I did indeed discover that it had been greased rather than oiled, as seems to be traditional. The leakage is more between oilings, when the gun discharges any remaining contents onto the shelf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I was lucky again on ebay a couple of months ago, a brand new Wanner with a couple of extra ends for £40 including postage, the seller had several, but they are all gone now. I had no idea how to fill it and unscrewed the base first before finding how they fill. The gun has been used on the Smart & Brown model A and there is still some oil left in the gun. The learning process will have to be repeated because I have already forgotten how it is done. It is standing upright in a tool cupboard and there have been no signs of a flood so far.

The S & B had been greased and all but one of the many nipples are working with oil, the odd one defeats even the Wanner. I have thought of putting some oil in a high pressure grease gun to try to clear the blockage.

[Roderick Jenkins]

On Roderick Jenkins Said:

I’ve got one of these  Press Parts oil gun

I bought it after recommendation and it works fine. Several Myford users have given good reviews on the Press Parts Web site.

Rod

Well I bought the ‘oil gun’ version – so far so good, except that the ‘tip’ which fits the Myford’s oil nipples is slightly too large to reach two of them – one on one of the pulleys and one on the back gear pivot under the spindle. They’re in a recess which is slightly too small. I think I can turn the tip down a few thou to fit – just ordered an M10x1.0mm die to make a stub to do this on. Will report back.

[icon]

On icon Said:

On Roderick Jenkins Said:

I’ve got one of these  Press Parts oil gun

I bought it after recommendation and it works fine. Several Myford users have given good reviews on the Press Parts Web site.

Rod

Well I bought the ‘oil gun’ version – so far so good, except that the ‘tip’ which fits the Myford’s oil nipples is slightly too large to reach two of them – one on one of the pulleys and one on the back gear pivot under the spindle. They’re in a recess which is slightly too small. I think I can turn the tip down a few thou to fit – just ordered an M10x1.0mm die to make a stub to do this on. Will report back.

I reduced the diameter of the tip and now can reach all the oiling points on the lathe – as far as I can tell, oil is getting in where it should , and mostly not squirting everywhere!

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

I have got a couple of the cheap leaky oil guns, one with a female end that came with the Myford and a similar one with a tapered male end which was supplied with the Emco mill. Both leak, the Emco supplied one is better but must be presented dead square to the oiler. I have found that placing a piece of rag over the nipple when oiling cures the leaking completely.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

When I had the ML7, the gun supplied from Myford, oiled everything except what i wanted.

I bought a Reilang and had no problens putting oil where required, and without leaks.

Still working properly after over twenty years!

Howard

[Author]

Posts