Reeves Drives Mechanics.....?????

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I got a call today from fellow Creeker Mike Fosbury a retired Idaho State Police officer. His Jet lathe with a Reeves drive was having difficulties. I suggested I drop by for a visit and we'd take a look at it.

Long story short, the varying width pulley on the motor shaft was stuck. We removed the spring, washer and c-clip and it was still stuck. We removed the motor, honed a little on the top edges of the key of the shaft and finally got the pulley off.

We cleaned the pulley halves and the shaft with denatured alcohol and reassembled it using Lubri-plate on the shaft. The thing worked like new after reassembly.

Should we have lubricated that shaft? If so..what should we have used?

Thanks!

[Jake Helmboldt]

Ken, I sold my Jet with a reeves drive before having to do any significant maintenance. But I would consider a dry lube to avoid attracting dust and gumming up the works.

There is a variety of bicycle chain lubes that have teflon in liquid suspension that go on wet and quickly dry to avoid such gunking. I would give that a thought as they are readily available and would last a long time with an occaisional application. I've seen other spray on lubes that also dry after application but can't tell you a specific name.

[Thomas Canfield]

Its been a while since I had my Jet 1236, but the Reeves drive did require cleaning and lubrication to keep it operating correctly. The trick for me was doing maintenance "BEFORE" it was needed to avoid the sticking and hard operation. I bought the lathe used with little instructions, but seems that white grease was used, but then there is the issue of attracting dust and chips. That is the reason for cleaning and then lubricating before needed.

[Robert Arrowood]

I'm glad this thread came along.I just got one of the HFreight lathes with the reeves.Need to cnean and lube the drive on mine too.Need a new belt also.

[Greg Coleman]

I have a Delta with a Reeves drive. It was used when I bought it and I had to replace the motor pulley because it broke. The Delta tech suggested that it was binding from lack of maintenance from the previous owner. I now lube it periodically with a little squirt of Red and Ready (REDDI) spray grease. It is a little thin but the straw is easy to get into the spring area. I think even white lithium grease might even be a good choice. It comes in a spray also.

For what its worth, I have had a Shopsmith with a Reeves drive for 25 years. I have never had a lick of a problem with it.

[Jeff Nicol]

Ken, When I got my first lathe, it had the reeves drive on it, the issues were that the pulleys were not made of very resiliant material and would get small scratches in the soft "POT" metal. I did everything I could to keep them free and not sticking, the best lubricant I found was powdered graphite as it would not attract the dust and gum up the works as fast. That being said it still required many cleanings and tear aparts that I finally did the VFD and 3phase motor change out, never a problem since the conversion, so it was worth the cost.

Some of the higher end reeves drives like on the old PM90's were far greater in design and material, but once the lower end lathes of the 80's to now that have them from tiawan, china etc are not up to the task IMHO.

Good luck to your friend,

Jeff

[Bill Bolen]

Ken I have and still use the 1442 reeves drive model. Every 4 months or so I pull the cover and blow out all the dust and lube everything including the shafts with silicone spray. It dries to a powder rather fast. I move the speed selector through the speed ranges and spray again. After 5 years it still runs as smooth as the day I got it. A little PM goes a long way...Bill...

[Dick Strauss]

Ken,
Delta recommends a dry graphite or silicone based lube for their reeves drives.

As others have said, anything thicker will collect dust and belt rubber resulting in gumming up the works.

[Curt Fuller]

Ken, my Oliver has a grease zerk on the end of the shaft that lubricates the sliding pulley. So I would say yes, it should be lubed. I give mine a pump of grease every few months and it has worked flawlessly for years. If I over grease it, it gets messy inside the housing and will sometimes even get on the belt. So I wouldn't overdo it. But I'm surprised that most of the newer lathes with reeves drives don't have a way to lube the shaft.

[Bill Boehme]

Lubriplate is much too light. It is almost like a light machine oil. I would suggest using a synthetic grease designed for wheel bearings since it will tend to stay where it is applied and not migrate onto things like the belt. Also, use just a very small amount of grease as excess will tend to sling off. This should be a regular maintenance item for Reeves drives to keep them operating properly. I tried graphite for a while, but did not find it to be satisfactory.