Ratcliffe R25 pugmill

[Mike-H]

Hi 

I’m a kiln & wheel engineer in the UK.

A customer has asked how to lubricate the gearbox of their pugmill.

The Ratcliffe company no longer exists!

I have found the bolt to insert the oil or grease, but I cannot find anywhere, what oil or grease should be used.

Can anybody on this fantastic forum, offer any advice, or supply a manual .

Regards

Mike Humphreys

 

[Hulk]

Good question.
Is there any residue? If so, you might be able to approximate the oil "weight" (viscosity number).
Some gear oils have a unique smell...

Potterycrafts might be able to help?
I believe they had acquired several equipment manufacturers...

[steviepeas]

The Label on my R25 says to use Shell Simnia 0 if that helps. S

[PeterH]

57 minutes ago, steviepeas said:

The Label on my R25 says to use Shell Simnia 0 if that helps. S

Can you confirm the spelling? I've failed to find it, including in: https://tinyurl.com/3szyt78c
Shell has, over the years renamed their range of greases, but the overall composition of the grease remains the same. Please use the following table to find the modern day name for old Shell grades.

OK the name is  right, found a picture of a very old drum:

Failed to find Simnia in: https://www.epc.shell.com/Product/ProductList

From: https://www.nyelubricants.com/need-to-know-grease-consistency

...  also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLGI_consistency_number

Edited November 29 by PeterH

[PeterH]

If you go to https://www.scribd.com/doc/280483228/Lubricant-Greases#

... and search for Simnia, you get the fairly enigmatic

I tried to download the file to get a better look, but got bored with the terms and conditions. It might be worth your while to look.

PS https://tinyurl.com/3szyt78c gives several "modern" Shell equivalents to old names starting with "Alvania EP". But not one for "Alvania EP 0".

PPS https://tinyurl.com/3zm2jfwh 
seems to give Shell GadusS2 V220 00 as an equivalent to  Shell Alvania Grease EP(LF) 00
... which is getting close to the result of the Simnia search above
00 (EP LF 00) ALVANIA EP 0 (EP LF 0) SIMNIA GREASE 0 MULTIFAK EP 0 NOVATEX 0 UTILI

CAUTION. Above is purely the result of net searches, without any practical experience in machine lubrication.

Edited November 30 by PeterH