Ball screw lubrication

[GoCreateParticipant @gocreate]

Slideway oil or grease

[GoCreateParticipant @gocreate]

Hi

I'm converting a mill to CNC and using 16 dia X 5 pitch C7 rolled ball screws.

Any recommendations for ball screw lubrication?

A Google search does not give a conclusive answer, in general for hobby use it appears to come down to either use slideway oil iso 68 or general purpose lithium grease.

It appears moly or PTFE additives should be avoided as these friction reducing agents can cause the balls to slip or skid.

I am including a one shot lubricating system and I'm at the stage as to whether or not to include the ball screws, or alternatively, lubricate them separately using grease.

Any comment, experiences appreciated.

Thanks

Nigel

[Anonymous]

All slideways on all my machines are oil, never grease; mostly ISO68 slideway oil, although the grinders generally use thinner oil. My CNC mill has a piped oil system operated by a spring loaded handle. It feeds oil to slideways and ballscrews on all three axes. I'd never use grease.

Andrew

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

I designed machine tools for most of my working life and used ball screws since the early eighties. These screws where mainly on machines with dedicated cycles, so going over the same length of ballscrew every cycle. Ballscrews ranged from 20 to 80mm in diameter. Now in answer to your question, we used a timed one shot oil system using a slide way oil as this lubricated all the machine including metal to metal slide ways in the early days before using linear ways. Over the years we never had a ballscrew fail or linear way either. In hobby use an occasional lube into the ball nut will suffice, just ensure the wipers in the ball nut keep the swarf out.

Look at NSK, SKF, Hiwin, THK and many other original screw manufacturers for guidance if in doubt.

Howard

[Involute CurveParticipant @involutecurve]

I think Arc Euro do a one shot oiling kit………

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

Have a look here, a design guide for lubrication of ball screws **LINK**

[Nick HughesParticipant @nickhughes97026]

Idealy use an ISO 68 Slideway oil for any Horizontal surfaces and screws, then use an ISO 220 Slideway oil for the Vertical surfaces and screws. I use the ISO 220 Slideway in the automatic oiler fitted to my Syil X5 Plus. This lubes all the linear rails AND the ball screws.

Nick.

[GoCreateParticipant @gocreate]

Thanks for all your very quick replies

That's clear cut then, I wiil include the ball screws within my one shot lubricating system so they will be lubricated along with tte slideways using ISO 68 oil. I may follow Nick's suggestion and use ISO 220 for everything.

Involute Curve – yes, I will be ordering the ARC lubricating system.

Much appreciated.

 

Nigel

 

Edited By tractionengine42 on 17/07/2016 16:26:10

[Nick HughesParticipant @nickhughes97026]

Just to confirm my choice of oil viscosity, Hiwin (as fitted to my machine) recomend Mobilgear 630 for standard use. See page 27 of this document:-

**LINK**

The Mobilgear specs here:-

**LINK**

Nick.

[GoCreateParticipant @gocreate]

Nick, thanks for the additional information.

I'm thinking ISO 220 will be a good all round choice for the ball screws + vertical and horizontal slides using a one shot lubrication system.

I can keep most of the lubrication pipework internal to the mill avoiding lots of external pipes, should be a neat solution. I have ordered the ARC one shot lubrication pump.

Thanks again

Nigel

[Author]

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