Topsy Posted October 6, 2019 Report Share Posted October 6, 2019 Yup. Got hold of a lathe to do up and wanted to tackle the motor but as I turned it on its side I noticed oil suddenly dripping off the cable. Connecters all are soaked and opening it I found the pictured scene. There's a little planetary gearbox that goes on the outside that regularly needs to be filled with oil, but I can't quite see how this much could have got into the motor itself? Suppose the oil isn't conductive I guess it shouldn't be much of an issue? Should I try cleaning it up or let it be? I literally know nothing about electric motors, but enough that they don't usually leak oil. I'd bin the thing but a friends boss gave me a nice frequency converter for free for it and I'd feel a bit bad not using it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted October 11, 2019 Report Share Posted October 11, 2019 Are you sure it should actually be oil and its not just old grease thats turned to liquid? If its a brushed motor then running it covered in oil probably isn't the best idea as its fairly flammable. Give it a good blast with some brake cleaner / contact cleaner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted October 19, 2019 Report Share Posted October 19, 2019 The oil's more than likely leaked from the gearbox over time, if it's leaked, then been topped up, then leaked, topped up etc... Then it would easily end up dumping more oil than its actual capacity into the motor. I'd chuck a new seal in the gearbox, clean everything up and carry on. It shouldn't have done any damage. For the seal just search somewhere like simplybearings.com for a matching size, seals and bearings in industrial stuff tend to be fairly generic. Before going too far with things the main thing will be to check that the bed of the lathe isn't overly warn. If it is you'll be fighting the thing forever and it's usually prohibitively expensive to repair. If the bed's good most other stuff's usually pretty fixable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topsy Posted December 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2019 Thanks a lot for your suggestions I've been completely swamped with school stuff so didn't get round to do anything with it yet. The rest of the lathe is okay I think. At least okay enough for what I need it for (acrylics and the odd steel spacer). Being a bar bed the bed could technically be replaced fairly easily too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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