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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Help/Repair/Maintenance → Best Lubricant?
What is the best lube for linear bearings on McMaster rods?
If anything a very thin oil something like LPS 2 or 3 works great. Any kind of grease seems to bind them up. You really should need very little put some on a rag and wipe the rods.
If anything a very thin oil something like LPS 2 or 3 works great. Any kind of grease seems to bind them up. You really should need very little put some on a rag and wipe the rods.
+1 I put some sewing machine oil into them to start with, and this has made it out onto the rods. They run nice and quiet now.
main concern is nothing that will get slung onto filament or in heaters, fans, belts etc. as that would creat a whole new problem/s also nothing that would harm materiels like plastic used to build printer
main concern is nothing that will get slung onto filament or in heaters, fans, belts etc. as that would creat a whole new problem/s also nothing that would harm materiels like plastic used to build printer
Everyone always talks about oil damaging the plastic parts of the printer.
I can say after over a year and three SD3's I have never seen any form of damage caused by oil.
I have used every kind of oil and grease you can imagine laying around the average house/garage. Of Course I'm not soaking the ABS parts in it and try to keep it off if possible.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't think it is of that much concern.
I use Labelle 108 oil. It's a very light multipurpose oil I used to use on plastic gears, mechanical toys, RC stuff. It's compatible with plastics of any kind, and never gave me any problems.
A little of it goes a long way. I've had the little bottle for the last 10 years and used it on hundreds of things including the SD3 and the Printrbot
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/151252290211?lpid=82
Okies ; heres my run down on it....
When using the standard bushings with the SD, you want a fairly viscous *grease* - the function of the bronze sintered bearings is complimented best when you have a layer of grease between the friction (interface) surfaces. Light duty oil is not ideal here, as it will be squeezed out rapidly between those interfaces - this is why a thicker lithium grease is preferred as it will retain lubricant properties even under the squeezing force of the sintered bushings.
IF you have switched to roller bearings; the advice is the opposite. You now want a light duty oil; such as 'singer oil' or the 108 previously mentioned. This is because the roller bearings do not appreciate being slowed down with the viscosity of a thick oil. HOWEVER... a little goes a looooong way - the more coated you make the rods/bearings in oil; the more dust and other crud they will collect, and the more pitted your rods (or the balls) will become .
Using light duty oil on sintered bushings will work and is a damn sight better than none at all - but its maintenance cycle is a lot higher than if you used a quality high-temp bearing grease that is designed to be sheared against the rod and hard bushing and remain in place... lighter duty oils will not remain intact against the high shearing forces of the bushing and whilst the rod may remain 'wet' with lubricant; the interface surfaces will be rubbing metal on metal... hence the need to use a thicker lithium based grease.
Truth be told; assuming you cleaned every spec of existing lithium grease off every surface; a PTFE lubricant would be best to go with as it will retain PTFE as a lubricant even after shearing forces have pushed away all the 'wet' lubricant. But contaimination is a big issue with most PTFE lubricants and will cause all sorts of cross-contaimination related issues ; so its not just a simple case of 'switching' lubcricants...
Advice offered in context of anyone reading the thread; not just purely for linear bearings....
Okies ; heres my run down on it....
HOWEVER... a little goes a looooong way - the more coated you make the roads/bearings in oil; the more dust and other crud they will collect, and the more pitted your rods (or the balls) will become .
+1 to all of it but wanted to highlight the most important part 
I agree with all that Adrian mentioned.
Before I switched to linear bearings was using white lithium grease on the rods. I still do on the bushings for the "Y" cross rod, since it's constantly turning inside the bronze bushings. Maybe one of these days I'' pop those off and replace them with bearings.
But everything else is running on a very light coat of 108 oil.
some oils/lubes will degrade even dissolve plastics like ABS as plastic is petroleum based hence the labelle package above says "plastic compatible" once you use the "wrong" oil and ruin your printer its too late to admit your error then read labels. I have experienced this 1st hand just hoped to help others from doing same.
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