Chain oiler from scratch for $nix

[CookMySock]

Sick of oiling chains.

Need any squeezeable plastic bottle. Clear one would have been better.


Squeeze and fill this clear plastic line.


Hard to even see it once its on the bike.


Heres the, er, dispenser.


Just slice the plastic tube on an angle so it sits against the sprocket.


Maybe it would be better to use fatter tubing. This is 1/8". It's a bit flimsy.


Just squeeze and ride away. Put automatic trans fluid in it, or any thin petroleum product. Don't use thick engine oil. It's too thick.

It's a bit messy to refill it.

Steve

[The Pastor]

Is this so it oils while riding? How do you control the flow

[CookMySock]

Is this so it oils while riding? How do you control the flow

Yes. You squeeze the bottle which pushes about 20ml of lube into the clear plastic tube, which then drains down slowly over the next 5mins ish. So you have to ride right after a squeeze or it all goes on the ground.

Steve

[dogsnbikes]

Why dont you extend the tube with some copper tubing or similar to give you a more accurate dispenser onto the chain,as for controlling the flow,why not use a adjustable hose clip and work out turns/rate of flow say 1minute 2 miute etc /drop of lube.....

[CookMySock]

Why dont you extend the tube with some copper tubing or similar to give you a more accurate dispenser onto the chain,as for controlling the flow,why not use a adjustable hose clip and work out turns/rate of flow say 1minute 2 miute etc /drop of lube.....

I didn't really want the opportunity for metal bits to get sucked into the sprocket area, as they do - cue imminent mayhem..

Oil metering isn't that much of an issue, unless you are completely stopped - when it just drip on the ground. The only thing to watch, is how much of a squeeze you give it. If I load about 2-3cm of oil into the clear resevoir tube and ride for ten minutes, it distributes it perfectly, and no drips - and every day that is probably about what will be required. It is tempting to give it a long squeeze though.

I put this system on three bikes yesterday, and I have a scott on my bike, so I'll allow time for the riders to get used to using it, and then will post their issues and what I did about it.

There are two opportunities to tune the system that I can see - alter the oil viscosity, and heat-and-pull the nylon dispenser tip so it narrows to around 1mm in ID. I put 20W50 engine oil in it, and it sullenly refused to flow whatsoever, so it seems quite sensitive to viscosity.

Steve

[scumdog]

Why not use chain oil of the 'non-fling' variety?

A good chance there would be less mess.

[Oscar]

Why not use chain oil of the 'non-fling' variety?

A good chance there would be less mess.

Why bother?

Most O & X ring chains don't need much oiling and in fact oiling them constantly in ordinary oil (as opposed to occasionally applying proper chain lube) is a good way to pick up dust and grit. The only benefit is reducing chain sprocket friction.

[CookMySock]

Why not use chain oil of the 'non-fling' variety? A good chance there would be less mess.

No reason at all, except I have all sorts of various petroleum products on the floor of the shed that I can use. I have 4 litres of CRC66 that needs to be used up, so I use that to thin down all sorts of other shit, like the ancient 20W50 - I wouldn't even put that in the lawn mower.

The main problem is getting the viscosity correct so it will flow at all, or not too much. Road chains don't care about what lube - they just like to be nice and slippery. Yum. Even the scott wont flow if I put standard engine oil in it.


Steve

[EJK]

Waits for Tank for an input.

[cave weta]

It all looks very techynogical .... but an application of nice tacky chainlube from an aerosol once every couple of days seems to work for me

[pete376403]

Chainsaw oil should be ok - given that with O ring chains the oil is mainly to keep the O rings wet and slippery, so they don't dry out and let the grease out of the rollers.

Incidentally what you have described is commercially available as a Loobman

[davebullet]

Good do it yourself approach.

I bought mine from http://www.loobman.com because I was lazy. I was skeptical at how NZ$47 (incl. shipping) worth of plastic bits would work. But it does work well. I use penzoil chain bar oil in mine. I use the odo trip B to measure k's inbetween squeezes to check wetness of the o-rings.

Benefit with the loobman system is it has a splitter to oil on both sides of the sprocket - ensuring both sides of the chain rollers (therefore o rings) get oil.

The splitter part can be bought separately with postage. So if you can fabricate your own bottle and feeder tube (and #8 wire or similar to hold the tube near the sprocket) - then ordering the splitter (should be postable in an envelope) could be the cheapest way to get a both sides of the sprocket lubed

I thought the system would be rather flimsy, but seems to cope with wheel changes (sprocket off), reversing etc... The feeder system just uses zip ties from the splitter to the sprocket and do not slip off the sprocket.

[CookMySock]

an application of nice tacky chainlube from an aerosol once every couple of days seems to work for me

And for us, but basically people couldn't be effed doing it, and I felt like jury rigging something from scratch.

I bought mine from http://www.loobman.com because I was lazy. I was skeptical at how NZ$47 (incl. shipping) worth of plastic bits would work. But it does work well. I use penzoil chain bar oil in mine. I use the odo trip B to measure k's inbetween squeezes to check wetness of the o-rings.

Benefit with the loobman system is it has a splitter to oil on both sides of the sprocket - ensuring both sides of the chain rollers (therefore o rings) get oil.

The splitter part can be bought separately with postage. So if you can fabricate your own bottle and feeder tube (and #8 wire or similar to hold the tube near the sprocket) - then ordering the splitter (should be postable in an envelope) could be the cheapest way to get a both sides of the sprocket lubed

I thought the system would be rather flimsy, but seems to cope with wheel changes (sprocket off), reversing etc... The feeder system just uses zip ties from the splitter to the sprocket and do not slip off the sprocket.

Basically it is the same system. As you say - its just bottles and hoses, and cable ties and glue.

The only tricky part was gluing the 1/8" feed tube into the 3/8" clear plastic tube. I tried silastic which just didn't work at all, then I tried automotive bog, which made a nice little adapter thingy which slid right out real easy, so I simply superglued that back in and its good so far.

Time will tell if it all gets ripped off and flung in the bin or not, but it cost little or nothing so....

Steve

[CookMySock]

Three months later, and I haven't adjusted a chain on any of the bikes, or touched any of the lubricators in any way. All riders just use it without complaint. The daughter doesn't like the bottle under the Comets' rear guard on the LHS - too difficult to reach. The mrs doesn't like the bottle on the RHS packrack mount - too, er, something I forget lol. Small sucryl bottle is perfect size. All glue stayed stuck. Chains look slick and oiled. Minimal oil spillage on the rims.



Steve

[ynot slow]

As an aside,between squeeze bottle and end of pipe you could also put a one way valve(from aquarium outlet)on tube,that way a squeeze,oil in tube to chain,but oil would stop at valve and not continue to drip.