Oiling the Taig mill

[George777]

I'm fairly new to the Taig Mill and haven't found any in-depth info on how exactly to oil the Mill. I'm interested in exactly which areas need oil and how to get the oil onto the ways etc....?

George

[HorridHenry]

Don't you have a manual for this mill? as this would give the assembling procedure and oiling points as its assembled.

[awerby]

It's a plastic bottle of oil with a long flexible tube, which is perfect for getting under the mill and oiling the slides and screws (which are what need the oil).

The oil they come with works okay, but it's a little thin and tends to run off quickly. Once it's used up, I refill it with Mobile Vactra #2 way oil. Taig advises using red ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) which is easier to get. I've also heard of people getting good results with chainsaw bar oil.

Andrew Werby
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[Anokiernan]

I second getting some Vactra No. 2. It's roughly $15/gal but well worth it IMO. I recently picked up a bunch of medical surplus syringes w/o the needles and they work perfectly for oiling equipment. Just suck up some oil right from the gallon container and you can accurately apply it to any surface at any angle. You get the added benefit of being able to store the oil in the syringe ready for use without worrying about capillary action drawing the oil out. I used to use ATF on my Taig, which to be fair worked sufficiently, but will never go back to that now.

[Jeff-Birt]

After I oil up my Taig I run a little test/exercise program that just runs each axis from end to end in a continuous loop. I'll let this run 15~30min which not only distributes the lubrication but will also push any gunk to the ends of travel where it can be easily wiped up.