What the number on a Bijur meter unit means.
A Bijur meter unit is stamped with letters and a number: FSA-1, FJB-0, FT-2. The letters tell you the body style and thread. The number is the flow rate: how much of each pump stroke that point gets.
The scale. From slowest to fastest: 3/0, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. BDI's names for them: 3/0 extra slow, 00 slow, 0 medium-slow, 1 medium, 2 medium-fast, 3 fast, 4 extra fast, 5 extra-extra fast. Each step up doubles the oil to that point (data sheet 35470). So a rate-2 unit passes about four times what a rate-0 unit does from the same stroke, and the whole range from 3/0 to 5 is about 1:128.
Which rates are normal. 00 through 3 are the standard range; 3/0 and 5 are for special cases. Machine-tool ways and slides are almost always 0, 1 or 2; the builder balanced them so that a long table way gets more than a short saddle way from one stroke.
When to change a number. Only when a point is wrong: dry after a full cycle, go up one; wet, dripping or wasting oil, go down one. Change one point at a time and run a few cycles before judging. Do not change rates to fix a pump that is not building pressure; that is a pump, filter or line problem.
The check valve. Every F-series unit has a 5 lb check valve (A-series metric units too; M-series have a 1.25 lb valve for very thin oil). The pump must produce enough pressure to open it, about 10 psi at the unit, or the point never feeds regardless of the number. Units flow one direction only; there is an arrow on the body.
Meter units versus control units. The number system is the same, but Type F meter units are for cyclic pumps (hand-operated one-shots, timed pumps like TMD-5 and SureFire II SLR) and Type C control units are for continuous gear pumps (V5, V5B, V5W). Control units have a built-in filter and no check valve, and their scale extends down to 5/0 and 4/0. They are not interchangeable; the pump type decides.
Adding up a system. Each rate has a flow value; the sum over all units on a pump must stay under the pump's published maximum for that stroke and unit count (see how many meter units can an L5P run). The per-rate values are in Bijur Brochure B262 and Manual 258; if you send us the list of units on your machine we will check it.
→ Meter units by the pack: FSA, FJB and FT in 0, 1 and 2. Set of 8 $136, set of 16 $275 with free shipping. Bundles & Kits. Questions: sales@ldewitt.net or (210) 494-1997.