By Rich Sedenquist
I finally got fed up trying to oil those spring loaded ball oilers, and believe me, I had tried everything. Every attempt ended in as much oil on the outside of the ball oilers machine as what made it to the inside.
Then I had a brainstorm: Why not fasten an O-ring to the tip of the oiler? The tip protrudes out of the mounted O-ring and when you press the point of the oiler into the spring loaded ball oiler, compressing the spring, the O-ring seals the area around the ball, allowing pressure oiling of the machine ways and wherever those pesky oilers are located. You can see this modification in the drawing.
You still have to wipe the ball oilers off before pumping the oil in to prevent injecting swarf into the machine, but with this new addition there is hardly any oil to wipe up after giving the oiler a pressurized shot of oil. I used to find oiling my machines such a pain in the behind, but now it’s a breeze and much less of a headache!
