Heidelberg Windmill 10x15 Oil leak

I don’t have a Heidelberg, but I have just looked through the manuals, and have some experience with hydraulic systems not functioning properly.

My guess, and hopefully someone with a better knowledge than I can confirm it, is that the green caps are one way valves and one of them has failed.

I don’t know for sure, but that certainly fits what you are seeing. You could try plugging that green hole, activating the lubricating mechanism and then removing the plug.

I suspect that the official repair would involve replacing the entire part. I doubt that you can get just the green hole/valve but disassembly would give you a clue as to what has gone wrong. If you are lucky, the valve is just jammed and can be carefully cleaned.

Hi there,

I do apologise for my poor English.

Buy the syringe in your local pharmacy. Ask about the biggest (powerful) they have in stock :-) The good thing is that the oil gets to the valves. I experienced similar problem. Lift the caps upwards gently but surly. Use the syringe to suck all the oil out. Clean it well. Don’t forget about the caps as well. Clean everything around with the paper towel. Check all the other points if they are permeable. Check the oil itself, it might be contaminated. I would recommend to buy the fresh oil anyway if you running low. Put some fresh oil into the valves manually, about the half of the valve and monitor.

Thanks for the comments.
I know very little about hydraulic systems. I am not sure what a one way valve would do here. The next time I have a chance I will open things up and inspect further. Still not sure what I am looking at here.

A one way valve would allow air in to replace the oil that had been pushed out of the reservoir. Without that the oil would be pushed down to the lubrication points and then sucked back up.

My suspicion is that this valve is not just letting air in, but oil out, thus the mess. In addition you are probably getting insufficient pressure for the oiling system to work properly.

Thanks Zwack. That makes a lot of sense to me. It may explain why the pump has a bit of a spongy feel to it as well.
When I use the pump handle I can see oil being pushed out at the oiling points by ink cylinder but I wonder how much pressure is being applied overall and how some of the other oiling points are affected.
The caps on the oil cups with the green holes in them do not appear to be threaded. I will try to carefully pry them up. I also see there is a packing ring listed in the parts manual as part of this assembly.

I carefully removed the cap and the feed line. I found a large amount of sludge inside the oil cup. I have removed the sludge as best I could. I have tried to temporarily seal off the oil line feed. I mixed a little solvent into the oil in this oil cap and tried to force it through under pressure using an air blast from a small compressor. I don’t think this was successful.
It appears that the oil is not finding its way through to lubricate one side of the rear toggle pin.
My plan is to go in with a syringe to drain the oil (as suggested by Slawek P) above and keep cleaning to see if I can open the channel in the casting to allow the flow of oil.
If anyone has any advice or suggestions here I would appreciate hearing them.

oilcup.jpg

When I bought my Josiah Wade ARAB Press. Everything was covered with something black. Probably, the mixture of an old oil and paper dust, dust itself etc. My mum gave me a little bottle of sewing machine oil. Its high quality precision machine oil. I could not belive myself. All the crap came out of all oil points (bolts). I always have couple of bottles around now. I just kept pouring 4-5 drops every 2-3 minutes. An hour later :-) the clear oil started to run out from oil points. Than changed to ISO VG 150 oil. The same oil I use for my Heidelberg windmill.

Have you checked the rest of 13 oil points??

I have not checked the other oil points. The oil I see dripping out of them and it looks clean. I am hoping they are too. Wishful thinking maybe. I have no idea why this one was so full of sludge or why it has become blocked. In the mean time I have ordered a 4 mm line on/off valve to close the line temporarily while I clean the passage through the casting down to the bushing that needs to be lubricated.

Please remember that those two valves need some air for the oil to flow through