[mlabruyere]

I purchased some used trucks and rails of eBay. the trucks were packed with tons of old grease. I cleaned out all the old grease but now I need to repack them.

I was thinking lithium grease....is this OK?

[Geof]

That is what Haas recommends for greasing the linear ways on their TM, TL and GR machines.

[jt9d]

isoflex NBU 15 is very commonly used. not too thick so not too much drag.
avoid any greases that are marked EP. This stands for extreme pressure additive. this is used to dissolve small particles of metal created by micro-welding of metal under high load. The additive can reduce the life of linear bearings and ball nuts.
regards

Matt

[mlabruyere]

Thanks guys, I am going to give the lithium a try then.

This is my first go at using "real" linear bearings....I am suprised at just how tight these things really are! My skate bearing based trucks will slide along a rail when pushed and hit the bump stops....these will only move when you actually push on them and then stop when you release them.


Happy Halloween to everyone!
:bat:

[jt9d]

They are always stiffer, remember you are sliding well fitting rubber seals along also, when they are first packed with greaser they are also firmer. When greasing, i always ask my customers to grease and then jog slowly for 300mm or so, to work the grease through. other-wise you can get a pressure build up of grease at one end and pop a seal out a bit.
Remember these bearings are designed to take big loads with minimal clearance or movement in the direction of load. I think you will find that if you put 100kg's of load on your skate bearings it may not move as well!!
good luck!
regards

Matt

[mlabruyere]

I think you will find that if you put 100kg's of load on your skate bearings it may not move as well!!
good luck!
regards

Matt

I actually cracked one of my skate bearings.....dang it....:argue:

[Ken_Shea]

That is what Haas recommends for greasing the linear ways on their TM, TL and GR machines.

Geof,
Do you use a general purpose white lithium in your machines?


Thanks
Ken

[ger21]

isoflex NBU 15 is very commonly used.

This is what we use in our Morbidelli router. It's not cheap, though.

[Ken_Shea]

Not Cheap is an understatement
If this was a production machine I'd go for that but don't see it as being cost effective for periodic use.

I have also seen some of that high end synthetic grease stiffen up over time so it seems to have a shelf life.
Could be lithium does as well but not being able to use a $6 tube doesn't pain so bad as if it was a $150 tube which is what I saw one place for that grease.

Thanks Ger21

[ger21]

I think I pay around $60/tube. It's used in an automatic lubrication system.

[wizard]

#2 grease will work fine. At work we have a lot of machines (mold machine extractors) running THK rails on #2 grease that have over 15 years on them. Yeah some are beaten up but the also run amazingly fast linear speeds. I really don't see a need to waste good money on grease if you are running a machine with in what is considered normal circumstances. The biggest issue with linear bearings is keeping them greased properly with a good PM program or automatic lubing.

In some areas we have to run slides dry, as you can imagine the replacements are frequent. This for lightly loaded slides too. The moral of the story is to keep the bearings lubricated at all costs.

Considering all of that refer to the manufacures documentation, they should have good advice for your application.

[Ken_Shea]

Looked today for a tube of white Lithium but all I found was more tubes of that nasty black general purpose Lithium, so here we go again with that.
Better then no grease at all though huh?

[wizard]

Looked today for a tube of white Lithium but all I found was more tubes of that nasty black general purpose Lithium, so here we go again with that.
Better then no grease at all though huh?

Seriously go down to your local auto supply or farm supply store. Plenty of suitable greases to choose from.

[Ken_Shea]

Seriously go down to your local auto supply or farm supply store. Plenty of suitable greases to choose from.

Already said I found some, you want me to go again?

[Fluxion]

I just thought I would comment here. This grease https://www.mystiklubes.com/do/product/665003002 is what we use at work on our Onsrud machine. Its very affordable and you can buy it directly from their website.