The concept is great, automated oiling. Getting it all to work though is very time consuming. I used 5/32" (4mm) clear tubing off of ebay. The clear tubing is great because you can verify the oil is moving. I also used quick attach pnuematic fittings that were meter in, this is important because they only meter the flow in one direction, in the other direction they are unrestricted. I wish they were check valves instead of being unrestricted. Mostly I used 4mm tubing to 10-32 thread fittings. I am not 100% pleased with the system. Despite buying two check valves the oil will still drain from the z axis overnight.
I also had to track down some long elbow connectors and M6 connectors to get oil in the ballnuts. I had some grinding and drilling/tapping to do on the saddle and base. I would recommend a one shot oiler but I'm not sure I would reuse the same components. I use the system now by manually shutting the two main distribution valves and only opening them at the beginning of a work session when I activate the oiler and move the table around to distribute the oil.
It certainly works, it just doesn't work as well as I had planned.
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| Oiling grooves on saddle |
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| Oiling manifold and cutouts for ballnut oiling connectors on saddle |
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| Front view of oiling, green things are proximity switches |
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| back view of oiling manifold |
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| One shot oiler pump off ebay |
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| Main distribution manifold - One goes to z axis other goes to x/y |
