Lubrication For Lathe Headstock

[David_Brown]

My Chicom lathe wants No. 70 gear compound or HL-70 gear compound oil for headstock lubrication. Can't find any reference to HL-70.
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanx, David Brown

[David_Brown]

This is silly. I'm the only one responding to my own post. I phoned Busy Bee today and they told me that what I needed was Number 70 gear oil. I asked if this is like ISO 68 gear oil, but Busy Bee didn't know about ISO numbers. Wally Mart has 80W90 GL5 gear oil, but this is probably too thick. They also had Number 68 Hydraulic oil and Universal tractor fluid.
I wonder is I can substitute hydraulic oil for gear oil without any problems? Also does anyone know what the viscosity of universal tractor fluid is?
According to Plant Engineering, Shell has Tellus Plus 68 Antiwear hydraulic oil and Omala 68 extreme pressure gear oil, both ISO 68 and SUS viscosity @100F of 284-346. With the same specs Shell also has Turbo T68 general purpose oil and Tonna V68 Way oil.
I am familiar with Saybolt, but other than the comparison in Plant Engineering, I am not familiar with ISO numbers.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanx, David Brown

[SandyH]

I work for an international company, so I'll check our archives to see if I have any good info on ISO grades. I am not sure if hydraulic oil is a good match for this application, but I'll ask around for that too. Sorry I can't be of direct help right now, but I will pass along whatever I can find. I'm also asking similar questions about a lathe I recently acquired.

Good luck!

Sandy.

[Skeeter5000]

Hello David,

I did some research on this and it is only listed in one place that I read. This was the number 70 not HL70. The specification was the same as this companies ISO 68. Also this lubricant was listed as 20w. I hope this helps some.

This may be a lubricant specification that is used in UK.

Good luck,

[mstokeld]

What brand is your lathe and what EXACTLY does it call for? I have a Jet and it uses turbine oil in the heastock and apron, which is just about as far from gear oil as you can get. Mine calls for Shell Turbo T-68 in the manual. I use Chevron GST ISO 68, which is the same oil. All you have to do is call a lubrication company (one that suplies industrial sites) and tell them what you need. They can cross reference the oil and tell you what each oil company calls their product that meets your needs. I have no idea what Busy Bee is, but it sounds like some kind of quick oil change place. About the only thing more useless to help you here would be to ask some one working in the automotive section at WalMart. Call a REAL lubrication supplier. Or even better, what did your Google search turn up? You did try that, didn't you? If not, why not? If your manual calls for the Shell T68 oil that you mentioned, then that is what you need. find it or an equivalent and buy it. Why would you want to substitute soemthing else for it?

[David_Brown]

My Chicom lathe is made by the Chizhou Household Machine Tool Company in the People's Republic of China and it is Model Number CZ300A. This lathe is imported by Busy Bee Tools (equivalent to Grizzly Tools in the U.S.) and badged as the B2070 for Canada.
On Page 16, and I quote "The gears in the headstock should be lubricated by No. 70 gear compound or HL-70 gear compound."
Of course we lose something when Mandarin or Cantonese is translated into English and these instructions are no exception. I suspect the orginal was Mandarin as I understand that Anhui province is in Northeast China.
A Google for No. 70 gear compound or HL-70 gear compound does not bring up anything.
I have learned that Saybolt Universal Seconds which was the most common method of determing viscosity is now obsolete, replaced by centistokes. To convert from SUS @ 100 Degrees F. to approximate values in cSt @ 40 Degrees C. (co-incidentally the ISO viscosity grade) divide the SUS value by 5.
I suspect that 70 gear compound is equivalent to American 68 gear oil, and I wonder if anyone can confirm that.
I also asked what the difference is between Shell Turbo 68 general purpose lubricant, Shell Tellus Plus 68 hydraulic oil, Shell Tonna V68 Way oil, and Shell Omala 68 extreme pressure gear oil. All have an ISO viscosity grade 68.
Jim Pfaltzgraff (see the old Chaski Thread 83497) mentions that way oil has a tackative (a modified oil molecule with an ionic bond at one end due to the addition of sulphur, chloride or some other highly charged atom at the end of the molecule). The ionic molecule sticks to metal surfaces instead of dripping off as in ordinary mineral oils. I am wondering if way oil can be used in gear boxes.
I have Plant Engineering magazines guide to interchangeable lubricants from a whole whack of lubricant vendors, but no mention of Chinese 70 gear compound.
In May of this year Post 16968 gave a number of oil grade systems. From that ISO 68 is equivalent to kinematic viscosities of 68 cSt @ 40C, 8.5 cSt @ 100C, Number 2 AGMA, Number 20 SAE engine oil, Number 80W SAE gear oil, 62 SUS @ 210F and 475 SUS @100F.
What is the difference between 80W gear oil and 80W90 GL5 gear oil? Is there enough difference to worry about?
Does anyone know anything about Universal Tractor Fluid?
Hope I am not overloading you guys. David Brown

[David_Brown]

Hi Skeeter:
Interesting that you found a reference to Number 70, with an equivalent to ISO 68 and SAE 20.
Which country showed Number 70?
I guess I can presume that what I am looking for is going to be equivalent to ISO 68. Now I just need answers to the rest of the questions I posed a few minutes ago.
Thanx for your reply. David Brown

[SandyH]

I spoke with a friend from a local shop and he said all lathes he's run over his career have used ISO 68 in the headstock. I couldn't find any other cross references at work for HL70.

Sandy.

[16WhiteColly]

When I asked Grizzly Tech Support what HL-70 Gear Oil was, they told me they recommend 30W Non Detergent Motor Oil for the headstock on the 9729.

[atunguyd]

When I asked Grizzly Tech Support what HL-70 Gear Oil was, they told me they recommend 30W Non Detergent Motor Oil for the headstock on the 9729.

I am sure David Brown is going to be happy to have this information as it has been a 17 year wait to date.
[emoji846][emoji846]

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[TomB]

Since I got my Shopmster TriPower it has leaked a red oil from the headstock area. Not something I could fix because it leaks by a seal that is in between two big sections (One of those parts that seem like they were proped up in place and then the rest of the machine was built around it.) Well not up to fixing the leak I called up JT at Shopmaster to ask him what kind of oil was used so I could just replace the leaked oil. He told me they use "Marvel Mystery Oil". I asked where they found it (I'd never heard of of it before). The answer, wait for this it will surprise you, Walmart. Well I bought a quart plastic bottle and sure enough it was the same red color as what had leaked. I added it and it continued to leak at the same rate. Since then I have bought another bottle or two but I beginning to think I need to fix the seal. As to what the bottle says about it: (1) cleans the engine from the inside out (so it must have undesirable detergent), (2) increases fuel economy, (3) protects against temperature extremes and (4) Enhances overall performance by smoothing and quieting the engine. Overall I can't think of any reason that someone would recommend the product for a lathe headstock. However I'm not sure I should switch to something else without emptying the existing stuff out and going through the effort to tear machine down to that first part that the chinese installed.

Tom

[John Hasler]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Mystery_Oil

The "detergent" is ortho dichlorobenzene. It will do nothing in your headstock as there are no products of combustion there (we hope!) The EP additive will be beneficial in the headstock (modern motor oils have little or none due to EPA rules). MMO reportedly has viscosity slightly less than that of SAE 5W.

There's no particular reason why you would need to remove the MMO before adding something else but I'd be cautious about going to a much higher viscosity oil. You might also want to add an EP additive if you change to something that has none.