This will bore many of you, but I have been misinformed by many people over the years what to put into an ITW-AMP underpinner if the recommended lubricant isn't conveniently available, or you don't have it , or know where to get it. But maybe this will help people realize why the directed material is so unique. I do not know whether this applies to other machines.
The oil recommended in many ITW-AMP manuals as Castrol Magna GC 32 was renamed years ago. It is now Castrol Magna SW 32. Magna SW D 32 is different. It may be for a different market. It's specs are nearly identical but it is described as demulsifying (yes, with a 'd'). SW 32 barely mentions demulsification, so there is some reason they emphasize the D.
SW apparently stands for slideway. It is NOT a silicone-based oil old manuals commanded you to ONLY use, followed by later vintages warning you to NEVER use silicone oils. It is a petroleum distillate, and a very special type. That is the reason you should not use whatever crazy recommendations people give you. It is NOT a pneumatic fluid, but it works in the Alfamacchine company's pneumatic system by design because the system was designed with the lubricant properties in mind. What is unique about it is that it is the lowest viscosity slideway, slide way, or way, oil in the Castrol product range. The 68 and 220 products will stop up your machine if it isn't already.
Slideway or way oils are used for metal working machinery like lathes and others. Apparently the moving mechanisms it lubricates in metal-working machinery move in a channel called a way or slideway. SW 32 is unique in the Magna SW product range in that is is the only one that is both a way oil AND a hydraulic oil. Way oils have a stickiness that make them adhere horizontally, and vertically, as designed for the requirements. Hydraulic fluids at tractor supply and everywhere else are NOT way oils, so those are not a good substitute, even if they are labeled ISO 32 or AW 32 or ?? 32. That just means those all have the same viscosity, but not the necessary properties.
Pneumatic tool oils are thinner, typically have higher solvent percentage, and evaporate quickly. I think they are consumed at a greater rate in the pneumatic tools where they are used than the lubricant used in our underpinners. The stickiness in way oil helps the elastomer seals in our pneumatic systems seal instead of migrate and leak, and the seals are compatible because someone chose the materials to survive with this way oil. I said earlier it is not a pneumatic oil, compressor oil, vacuum oil, etc, etc.
Many of us know someone else, if not ourselves, who has NEVER lubricated an underpinner. Ours didn't come with the recommended fluid and for unknown reasons , we didn't worry about it until we had problems.
Lubrication neglect, the daily injection of hot air with moisture that condenses inside the pneumatic system, possibly containing rust that forms inside the compressor tank (laws of physics & maybe chemistry for Ideal Gas Law that is part of the temperature change in addition to the compressor running).
So, a machine that gets neglected until it malfunctions gets a variety of treatments. Someone may get good advice on a forum like this, and get crazy advice from who knows where and substitute rationalized alternatives. These could clog components if they are too viscous, or possibly dissolve and relocate contaminants if they have more solvent properties, changing the symptoms, and evaporate, changing the symptoms further as time passes. Actions taken and where you left off in you troubleshooting may be irrelevant due to a new set of symptoms. If adding wrong, or correct, lubricant doesn't free up a malfunctioning machine, you might add more, thinking you didn't put enough in. Or you could damage the internal elastomers and valve body if a polymer type. Some one discredited the plastic body valves as having appalling quality. I'm not sure how that revealed itself. For all the other possible variables framers bring to the lifecycle of the machine, the plastic body may not be the problem. The moving parts maybe be the problem. If the moving parts are plastic too, OK, I'd be disappointed on appearance alone, but just as a personal bias.
Or, like me, you are so afraid of using the wrong lubricant, or too much, you avoid it, and start replacing parts. If you look at the replacement schedule in manuals, the solenoids/valves are some of the longest-lived components (millions of operations), but replacing them when mistreated by negligence, might help. It's easier than understanding pneumatic logic. I understand digital logic, a little but of electrical relay logic, but was absolutely baffled by their pneumatic cousin. Books & catalogs had a different breed of hieroglyphics that were meaningless to me. There is not only the in and out paths of the valves, which is easier to decrypt or have explained to you, but the timing characteristics are harder to understand.
I think that why 'replace this, replace that' advice happens over the phone. One costs the tech support company money, the other costs the customer money.
OK...what is equivalent product?
Other than the many characteristics described above, the one unique thing in all the 32 viscosity slideway oils I have found is that they conform to machinery manufacturer Cincinnati-Milacron Standard P-53. Not P-50 or P47, which are for the heavier/more viscous, non-hydraulic.
Looking for 32 viscosity slideway oil that meets Cincinnati P-53 opens up a number of possibilities, with many vendors. But it comes in 5-gallon and 55-gallon sizes.
I have spent a day and a half looking online, and even visiting local machine shops, for a small bottle, or to buy a few ounces. I found people who used Vactra No. 2, which is 68 viscosity P-50. Same day, different shit. Vactra No.1 (I forgot the manufacturer) is equivalent (32 viscosity Cincinnati P-53) but I haven't found anyone who uses it in machine shops yet. I think Gulfway 32 also met the two common specs I sought.
A 5-gallon pail ranges from maybe $160-370 but I don't enough enough people to share it with, and it's probably not something I want in my home and would have to pay to dispose of some day. It's cheap, like $0.17-0.50 per ounce in 5-gallon, but enough about 5-gallons.
Very reluctantly back to looking for the ITW product on the Fletcher-Terry website. I did not find it particularly easy. There used to be an ITW p/n for 16 oz, and a different p/n for 32 oz. They now only sell a 32 oz. (quart) bottle with the old 16 oz p/n.
Pneumatic Oil ATC855, 1 Quart (T064)
Product Number: 04-087
$83.16
Used on all of AMP pneumatic underpinning machines * Please note Item can only ship by UPS/FedEx Ground Service
shop.fletcher-terry.com
Yeah, it costs a hell of a lot more per ounce, but I let that gripe go already. I should have done this first, but I didn't WANT to. I didn't want to waste the friend's money, so I wasted my time.
Buying this (mfr. offering) relieves concern that the 'or equivalent' proof wasn't satisfactorily met by me and my time-bandit methods.
(Don't do all this at home).
Rick
