Spindle oil is a kind of low-viscosity anti-wear oil that is used for high-speed spindles generally in textile industries is also used in machine tools where low-viscosity oil is required in other industries. Most of the giant oil companies like Shell, Mobil Total produce & market spindle oil, or slideway oil.
What Is Spindle:
It is a rotating shaft like a spike used for twisting fibers like wool, flax, or yarn. Mostly spindles are used in the spinning industry to convert cotton into yarn.
Spindle Oil:
In the textile spinning industry spindle oil is one of the most used lubricants. Generally, this oil is made from low-viscosity mineral base oil. In most of the spindle oil formulations, there are anti-wear agents, rust, corrosion & oxidation inhibitors as additives. The base oil is highly refined & mostly paraffin-based. Mostly Spindle oil 10 and Spindle oil 22 are widely used for high-speed spindle or low-pressure hydraulic applications. The basic characteristics of a good spindle oil should be good oxidation resistance and effective water separation quality. This oil is also known as slides, circulating, or bearing oil.
Spindle Oil Specification:
The appearance of spindle oil is light color or colorless. Mainly low viscosity like 2,5,10 or maximum 22 viscosity spindle oils are available in the market. If you go through into detailed specifications of spindle oil you will find that, the flash point of this oil is around 150-250°C (ASTM D92), the viscosity index is likely 100 & pour point -30°C (ASTM D97).
Spindle oil vs. hydraulic Oil:
In high-speed machines, you will find that low-viscosity hydraulic oils are used as spindle oil substitutes. It can perform if you exactly can match the viscosity grade. Many oil manufacturing companies sometimes do this by using viscosity modifiers. But always you should follow the Machine manual for the right oil selection because using hydraulic oil as a spindle oil substitute can hamper machine performance as hydraulic oil does have not high emulsification resistance or water separation capability which is important for the textile spinning spindles.
FAQ:
Q. What Viscosity is Spindle Oil?
Generally, Spindle Oil is low-viscosity textile oil for high-speed machines, this low viscosity would be 2,5 or 10 cSt at 40°C but sometimes may need 15 or 22 viscosity grade Spindle oil also required.
Q. Is Spindle Oil a mineral Oil?
Yes, it’s a mineral oil made from highly purified gumming-free base oil & some additives to work against emulsification, oxidation, rust & corrosion.
Final World:
Though Spindle oil is an essential industrial oil, especially for the textile spinning sector; because of its low consumption it’s not as popular as industrial oil & many spinning operators use spindle oil substitute but for the longevity of spindles & ring frames, everyone should use the spindle oil of right viscosity grade which is recommended by the machine manufacturer.