[cowanrg]

AVRnj, everything came from eBay. There's a guy who's selling the manifolds and they had all the other components I needed, except for the check valve, I got that from another guy. Here are the listings:

Push to Connect Inline Check Valve Union Fitting 6mm OD by Mettleair | eBay

Y Type Quick Push in Pneumatic Connector Adapter 6mm | eBay

Pneumatic Throttling Adjustable 6 Way Oil Distributor Valve Manifold Block | eBay

Brass 3 Ways Adjustable Distributor Manifold Block for 4mm 6mm Tube | eBay

5 Pcs 4mm Push in Pneumatic Valve L Style Connectors Quick Fittings | eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321166071619...84.m1439.l2649

And then the actual pump:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231163445994...84.m1439.l2649

With shipping, it was $50.45 for the manifolds and fittings, $12.13 for the check valve, and $56.50 for the pump. That's $119, and all I have left is the tubing and mounting hardware. Seems like it could be done for under $150.

[AVRnj]

Thanks much for the links. I am going to buy much of the same stuff.

[cowanrg]

FYI, after I bought the pump I found it for cheaper on eBay. You can get it for about $35 shipped if you search for manual lubricant pump. They even have slightly smaller ones too.

[AVRnj]

FYI, after I bought the pump I found it for cheaper on eBay. You can get it for about $35 shipped if you search for manual lubricant pump. They even have slightly smaller ones too.

I ended up getting a similar one, used for around $40 shipped, got it yesterday, seems like it should work fine.

Thanks!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Be careful using those plastic push-to-connect fittings in an oiling system. They are intended for pneumatics, ,and have limited pressure capability (about 150 PSI). If you put too much pressure in them (which is easy to do with a hand-operated oil pump), they commit suicide by literally breaking apart.

Regards,
Ray L.

[cowanrg]

Be careful using those plastic push-to-connect fittings in an oiling system. They are intended for pneumatics, ,and have limited pressure capability (about 150 PSI). If you put too much pressure in them (which is easy to do with a hand-operated oil pump), they commit suicide by literally breaking apart.

Regards,
Ray L.

Huh, I was thinking the opposite. I was thinking I'd get nowhere NEAR 150 PSI from a manually operated hand pump. It dispenses 8CCs of oil, through all those lines, I can't imagine I'd be pressurizing the system to 150 PSI. Am I wrong?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Huh, I was thinking the opposite. I was thinking I'd get nowhere NEAR 150 PSI from a manually operated hand pump. It dispenses 8CCs of oil, through all those lines, I can't imagine I'd be pressurizing the system to 150 PSI. Am I wrong?

Yes, you are wrong. It is quite easy to develop well over 150 PSI. You have a great deal of mechanical advantage in the pump lever, and it's operating a very small diameter cylinder. I've blown up several of those push-to-connect fittings, and will no longer use them. This is also why all the "factory" oiling systems uses compression or flare fittings on all the oil connections.

Regards,
Ray L.

[cowanrg]

Noted. I'll see how things work and I could easily enough replace the push fittings to something else.

[COMachineist]

Yes, you are wrong. It is quite easy to develop well over 150 PSI. You have a great deal of mechanical advantage in the pump lever, and it's operating a very small diameter cylinder. I've blown up several of those push-to-connect fittings, and will no longer use them. This is also why all the "factory" oiling systems uses compression or flare fittings on all the oil connections.

Regards,
Ray L.

I can believe it easy to get over pressure with fluid because it is noncompressive. How ever if the oil flows without much restriction and way oil is low viscosity it should not be a problem. I mean we are not pumping 90 weight gear grease here. One maybe 2 pumps is all that is needed right? All you need is a few molecules thickness of oil right? Maybe I'm wrong but the volume of all the lines and branches of the lube system is way more than these little hand pumps deliver, and with no restriction at end of a branch pressure should not build rapidly. I would think that it would take several pumps and a load of oil to pressurize the hole system to say 150 psi which is working pressure of these fittings.
I have these fitting in 175 psi air system and have never had one fail.
Watching this
CH

[cowanrg]

See, that's kinda what I was thinking. I started to calculate volume and such, but gave up because in a couple weeks I can just try it out. My thinking is simply that oil is going to go for the path of least resistance, like so many other things. If the seal (which can theoretically hold 150 PSI) is the least resistance point, I have other issues.

I understand the concept of being a non-compressive, but it's gonna have somewhere to go, and it will have PLENTY of channels to flow into. I doubt that it's going to have enough back-pressure to blow a fitting when it has some perfectly suitable exits :-)

[cowanrg]

OK, I have a little bit of progress to share.

I decided to test out my theory that this should work out just fine. I put together a miniaturized version of my system:



I gave it three solid pumps and found that the system can hold about 30 PSI (through the use of a pressure gauge on the other output). The only leak was ironically the gauge. After removing it, the system held with 3 pumps of oil. This was in a closed system, without any relief. As soon as I opened a valve, it went down to about 2 PSI or so. No leaks, no problems. If my system is working correctly, the oil fill find the path of least resistance and flow to where it needs to go. It will take a lot of tweaking to get all the adjustments right, but it should work.

Here's another shot of what I've planned out:

Attachment 232274

The pump goes directly into a check valve, then into a Y splitter, then into each manifold. The 3 output is for the Z axis and the other is a 6 output is for the X and Y. Each output gets adjusted independently, hopefully allowing for different resistances on each output.

Those manifold are pretty crappy, but usable. For the price, I'd buy them again in a heartbeat. They're ugly, but they'll work. This was what the craftsmanship looked like before I went in and cleaned it up:

Attachment 232276

With a bit of drilling, they cleaned up OK. There's no leaking or any other problems.

Here's the full write-up on my blog with more pictures and some other issues I ran into:

CNC Conversion: Part 6 – One-Shot Oiler (Part 1)

[AVRnj]

Nice write up, I have all the same components sitting on m table in my shop so I am glad to see that it works well so far.

[pippin88]

I'm still watching with interest.

Do the compression fittings that come with the manifolds work ok?

[cowanrg]

I'm still watching with interest.

Do the compression fittings that come with the manifolds work ok?

Yeah, they're fine. In fact, I had some sitting around that I bought at Home Depot (for some other household project), and they can be easily confused. Here's the problem though, the compression fittings are far less tolerant of the 1/4" tubing. It 'might' work, but I couldn't get it to work with the tubing I had. I had some other tubing (milky-clear, more rigid), used for ice-makers. That stuff just wouldn't go in the fittings, it was a bit too big. The vinyl was OK, but with some force, you could pull it out. I'm sure if you got the appropriate tubing the fittings that come with the manifolds would be 100% fine.

Also, the outputs were 4mm, so the 1/4" certainly won't work. I didn't mention it in my blog, but another reason I swapped the fittings was that the inputs were 6mm OD tubing, and the outputs were 4mm OD tubing. Since I had to buy the tubing online, I'd have to get 2 types and they only come in 20 foot sections, so it was a bit cheaper to just replace the fittings and use the 1/4" vinyl tubing.

[cowanrg]

Nice write up, I have all the same components sitting on m table in my shop so I am glad to see that it works well so far.

have you gotten any further with your ballscrew conversion? how are the double-nuts?

[AVRnj]

have you gotten any further with your ballscrew conversion? how are the double-nuts?

Unfortunately I have not gotten my mounts done yet, lots of problems with my cnc'd LMS SX2. I hope to get back to the mounts and get things going again next week. Got a new toy that should help make it go a LOT quicker.

[cowanrg]

I made some more progress this weekend. I managed to get the fittings into the saddle, and get the grooves milled. Here are a few pics:

Attachment 233294

Attachment 233296

Attachment 233298

I ended up using my X2 for all the milling and the PM30 a a drill press for all the drilling. I pumped some oil through, and it distributes evenly (enough), but is going to require a bit of tweaking with the valves to get it just right. I have the full write-up here:

CNC Conversion: Part 6 – One-Shot Oiler (Part 2)

I'll do the Z axis when I add the ballscrews, so I only have to take things apart up top once. I'll add the fittings for the ballnuts then as well.

[maker of things]

Very much of interest. I like the price tag of your assembly vs full on Bijur or 9 metering check valves. Is the "metering" of this block just a screw blocking a hole, or a ball with spring and variable tension? Can't quite make it out on the pics.

[cowanrg]

check the pictures at my blog:

One-Shot Oiler Part 1

There are better pictures there. The second and third to last pictures show the detail better. It's just a screw blocking a hole like you said. The adjustment is relatively fine, depending on how much you fiddle with everything. I don't have it all together yet, but I assume there will be a significant amount of adjustment needed to get the flow correct.

[maker of things]

Yeah that's a lot more detail. Looking at the pic I was thinking, "shoot I could totally machine that" then realized, for $23 shipped, there is no way I would work for that cheap.