My first lathe! What lube to use?

[gdl357]

Well hello all and I would just like to mention that after 1 month of reading posts and getting info about lathes, I have finally purchased a Mini-Mark Microlux 7x14 Lathe. Getting it next week. I purchase all but 4 optional parts for it. I really hope this lathe is as good as some people say it is. I want to make RC Car parts and some Steam engines, yeah, that would be great. I will mostly use Aluminium and Bronze.

I would like to know what oil/lube I should use to oil the lathe with. I have purchased the metal cutting lubes but no one seems to know what lube to use for the lathe. Can I use Mobile-1 Synthetic 15w50 or 10w30 Motor oil?

thx

[Ken_Shea]

You will have a lot of fun with your lathe.


If you are talking about a gear box, and I know I may get a lot of thumbs down here, but...pick a color, any color. If you are talking about protecting the ways etc, I use a 50/50 mixture of kerosene and 30/40/50 who cares weight oil in a spray bottle. Just a light spray after cleanup and it is good to go. While machining, you will not want a lot of residual oil hanging on the ways, it just collects grit, most often I do not even use lube while cutting, a little while reaming or drilling but very little while turning.

Ken

[HuFlungDung]

If the manufacturer doesn't specify lubricant types, then you're free to choose whatever, as Ken indicated above. Any oil is better than none, and, when machining dirty old cast iron, or after using emery cloth to work on a part, you should wipe the ways clean frequently, and re-oil lightly.

Oily smoke is irritating and unhealthy to breathe in, so don't machine with heavy cutting oils on the part if the cutting temp is high enough to make it smoke off. There are exceptions of course, but then you might want to rig up a ventilation fan to suck the fumes outside.