Hi all

can any of you suggest from experience the best grease to use on my lead screws. Mo2?

It should preferably be non oxydising or dry out long term and should possess qualities that reduce wear on thread and brass nut.

We all used sae 30 in my day but things have changed Im sure

sorry its an ML7 with a sML7 cross slide – maybe i can add this to a regular footnote

No one suggested drilling an oil hole in the apron casting above the lead nut then?

come to think of it, all those years i never touched the compound slide lead screws in all the machines i used

Yes MP I went out to check I hadnt had a" stoopid boy Pike moment" I dont see any oiling holes in either slide

Doing some more digging there are some synthetic greases on the market which are loaded with PTFE particles specially made for "power screws". I saw this on the lead screws used for x-y tables for DRO milling

FYI the pitch on these is generally 2mm but it can have 4 starts giving a lead of 8mm – impressive precision from EB

I came by some 3ft lengths of 1,5 bsw threaded rod cw full nuts. I had in mind to make a screw press (like a cider press)

then I did some digging and discovered how little force you got for your effort . You could lose up to 70% of force due to friction from the threads, which is why acme threads were invented

Then I thought – its easy to make an acme threaded rod – but what about the nut?

3/8" x 10 tpi LH acme die from a well known supplier (but he doesnt offer the tap to go with it) – cant have punters making their own nuts

Now here's a rare sight 1/2" acme 10 tpi

LH of course from EB £10 2u