I have several older small machine tools that have bearings, shafts and a few gears. The old manuals usually call for SAE 30 oil. The machines are old and were built before detergent oil existed. Conventional wisdom says to use non-detergent oil in these machines because detergent oil will hold debris in solution. These machines don't have combustion chambers so there's no combustion byproducts to end up in solution and I don't think detergent oil will hold metal particles in solution. I have a couple of questions.
1. Is there any good reason not to use detergent oil in these small old machines? This is sort of an academic question since I have non detergent machine oil on hand, I would just like to understand the non-detergent oil requirement.
2. I've been told that detergent oil is more hydroscopic than non-detergent and will pick up moisture which will in turn cause foaming and lubrication failure. Is this true? Is detergent oil actually more hydroscopic than non-detergent and if so, is it really a problem? These machines don't get hot enough to drive off significant moisture.
Appreciate comments and answers.
Thanks,
Bob
1. Is there any good reason not to use detergent oil in these small old machines? This is sort of an academic question since I have non detergent machine oil on hand, I would just like to understand the non-detergent oil requirement.
2. I've been told that detergent oil is more hydroscopic than non-detergent and will pick up moisture which will in turn cause foaming and lubrication failure. Is this true? Is detergent oil actually more hydroscopic than non-detergent and if so, is it really a problem? These machines don't get hot enough to drive off significant moisture.
Appreciate comments and answers.
Thanks,
Bob