Auxilliary oiler flow rate/duration

[Agoraphobia]

Just tested my on-the-fly aux oiler for use with 28" bar on 30" Granberg (20" actual cut without drilling the bar). I used a 1/4"id snowmachine oil injector shut-off valve below a stainless 800ml water bottle. It is easy to fill and has a pull up spout for a breather that wont get crap in it. I turned a fitting on the lathe and mounted it through a hole I drilled into the bottom with an O ring then mounted it to a rod that goes into the mills vertical support.

Anyways, I just filled it fully and then opened the breather and shut-off valve and timed it draining and then measured the oil. I got 700ml+ drained through it in 14 minutes for a flow rate of 50ml/min. That's apparently the max on an 084 oiler in the "boost" position, so I think it will be a good flow rate for what I'm doing as well as duration. In theory I could turn the ball shut-off valve slightly closed to decrease the flow slightly, but I don't think I will.

So how did I do? Is that a good flow rate and duration?

 

[Agoraphobia]

As an aside, I'm still thinking of a pressurized system. It would use a tight fitting 5-10lb weight to act as a counter-weight to the power-head and supply an even down pressure throughout the oiling process.

 

[BobL]

The 084 is indeed 50 mL/min in the boost position and the 3120 is 54 mL/min on max but at this rate a significant portion of the oil is thrown off at the nose so it does not benefit the cutting side of the bar.
With the 076 only having a max oil delivery of 19 mL/min I notice very little oil coming off at the nose.

As far as an aux oiler goes, efficiency of delivery depends on how it is done.
Hole through bar method gets the most oil in the groove but there is a limit to what can be gravity fed thru the hole especially when the oil level drops on a gravity fed system and the hole gets even (partially) blocked.
The drip method seems to work ok but too much oil and it also just gets flung off the the chain - like the spatters on the side of this log.


Where I live, premium B&C oil costs $24 a gallon while even canola costs $11 a gallon so I have interest in saving oil so I reckon ~30 mL/min is more than enough on an aux oiler even on my widest and hardest cuts. Adding pressure is not really needed unless in can be incorporated into some sort of flow control..
To save oil, being easily able to control the oil flow during a cut without having to stop cutting is worthwhile.
For a first narrow cut through mainly sapwood no aux oil may even be needed.
Invariably I forget the oiler has been turned off and start the next cut with the oiler off - this is when its handy to be able to control the oiler at the cutting position.
In a gravity fed system as the oil level drops the flow also drops, so on a really long cut being able to readjust the flow is very handy.

BTW I can see a clear temp rise on my powerhead temp monitor if I turn off the aux oiler so it clearly does something useful.

 

[Old Blue]

That's pretty impressive to be able to see an increase in the powerhead temp. Is it a small one 2-3 degrees or more than that? If I don't have a temp sensor on my power head (and I don't) then what are the indicators that I don't have enough bar oil?

Old Blue
Where I can sense a new tax on bar oil, in the works. In ....................
Kali-bone-ya

 

[BobL]

That's pretty impressive to be able to see an increase in the powerhead temp. Is it a small one 2-3 degrees or more than that?

Yes it's just a few degrees. It's a tricky test because you have to maintain constant pressure on the mill so this is where a sloped log comes in so the mill can cut under its own weight. For a constant diam log, the temp rises quickly and then settles somewhat but the temperature drifts still slowly upwards probably because the chain gets blunter during the cut so it's hard to identify a temp increase so no single value of temp means much. The times I reckon see it is when I am cutting 30"+ hard rosiny wood and turn the aux oiller off and wait to see a sort of steady temp increase and then turn the oil back on and sure enough the temp drops for about 30 s, then it starts to increase again.

If I don't have a temp sensor on my power head (and I don't) then what are the indicators that I don't have enough bar oil?

In softwoods the indicators are difficult to disentangle from general wear and tear of B&C. In the harder woods I cut if I'm not using enough oil I can start to see B&C wear within a half a dozen wide cuts. A double whammy in some of the rosiny woods I cut is if I don't use enough aux oil then resin will build up on the chain and impose an even greater load on the powerhead. This is then also a good indicator that I'm using enough oil and I tend to increase the oil to prevent this from happening.