Agreed

Same

I also agree, there is so much good content on You-Tube, that a condensed version is what I need.

Yes! Dude has so much knowledge, but damn it’s hard to find time for the live videos

So true!

We use WD40 in machine maintenance to clean up old oil on the ways of lathes. Then add in some new oil.

A bit outdated but WD40 is an actual Rust preventative... Its whole purpose. Its use in lubrication in null but they do have multiple versions for specific applications.

True, but that ain't the usual wd40 penetrant. It says white litium grease on it. I also have a different hight performance release penetrant or something and some ptfe or something lube. So they have many types of stuff.

White lithium grease seems to be common for linear rails. It alao needs to be leas thicker

Yup. WD40 was never designed as a lubricant. It was designed to serve as an anti-corrosion treatment for missiles, and as such it was optimized for capillary action (i.e. it tends to penetrate and spread out over whatever surface it's applied to due to its low viscosity and low surface tension) and hydrophobicity. Those properties make it a great cleaning agent for difficult-to-access surfaces, but they're not at all what you want from a lubricant. As you say, it will displace any (better) lubricants that might already be there.

Remove the rubber wipers, apply grease to the rail, let the printer run over that spot a few times, repeat to your liking. This works for regreasing, but not for packing your bearings

I do hope this works. I've heard of people who've forgot lubrication completely... :s The rails in the LDO V0 Kit fortunately leave some headscrew holes empty, so there's no need to unscrew one.

It's not odd. People recommend random stuff over the internet, just because someone else recommend it. Most of them can't even tell the difference between different types of lubrication and can't recognize the effects of it. 99,9% of them never tested something else. The herd effect is a real thing.😅 Manufacturers are definitely more qualified. It's odd that you think manufacturers should follow the recommendations from random people on internet.🤣 Thise are the people that created the thing, they live and breathe metal, but no, we have to trust goofy dudes with cameras on their phones 🤣 There is tested and sertified lubrications for linear motion. If you don't care for it, go use sunflower oil if you want, it will still slide...

I have the same question! The LDO docs say NGLI 0 or 1 but then Super Lube is recommended which is NGLI 2. Very strange. Also, getting that super lube into a syringe is very difficult, let me tell you lol

Yeah this dude isn't paying attention at all

I liked the idea, and went to look for this. Smallest can is 20 liters lol

@@Lecsi11 where are you located in the world? I get it by the quart from either Amazon or Ebay. Ive had the same quart for at least 3 years, so 20 liters would be a bit much.

This is true, i have done it myself in the past, but its far from ideal and i never got good results, while it does kinda suck to disassemble to get the linear bearings out, properly packing them with grease and re-assembling gives much better and consistent results, along with lasting much longer

@@CanuckCreator When I first built my Prusa Mk3 they didn't recommend any lubrication for the linear bearings, so they didn't get more than the shipping oil at that time. It has been in steady service for a long time now and I still depend on it (at least until I get a Trident built), so I have done a few lube cycles on it without disassembly. Initially I used oil and more recently the Prusa recommended grease (and process), in both cases by putting it on the rods and working some past the wipers. I can tell it is getting into the bearings as it quiets the occasional slight vibration sound the balls make when they are too dry. Oil has to be done more often, the grease lasts quite awhile at keeping the bearings quiet. Whenever one hears the bearings it is time to lube again. Lubing via the rods is better than nothing, but clearly disassembly is best. Violent agreement here. Great video. :)

I am also doing this way. It is not perfect but I can clearly see a thin layer of grease on the rod . My scrapers have probably some wear. But I give a try to the nero 3d method once I have five minutes

I have done it that way. It works but leaves a slug of grease on top of the rail/bottom of the car. I figure the clinging grease on the car acts as a reservoir.

True, but also dry lube wears off faster. Trade-offs with every product

It wears off really fast and doesnt lube as well. I used to use it but eventually switched back to grease because I was literally needing to reapply dry lube every week, if not 2 times a week.

I didnt really cover specific brands for this reason Was going to grab a can of the t-9 spray to try....only source up here in Canada is amazon at 65$ a can lol

@@CanuckCreator 😬 yikes, still worth it, I have not priced it for years, haven’t needed to.

T9 is an excellent penetrative rust shield. It provides some lubrication but is inferior to quality grease in lubrication performance.

@@alanb76 technically yes, but the combination of staying power, dust resistants, rust protection, and lubrication have not been beat in my experience. Then again most office 3-D printer setups won’t experience the dust and conditions I often have to deal with.

You can. Just make sure it's plastic/rubber safe and be sure to grease/oil any metals after as it can REALLY dry em out and make them rust prone

You can use NLGI 2, it's working. Yet it makes more sense in applications with more load. For 3D printers, thinner lubrication is advantageous because it has less friction, generating less noise and running a bit smoother. In linear rails, thinner lube has less risk of overlubrication which causes sticky balls.

@@DetlevRackow Thanks!

Yup, ive done it and it works

Same... I was able to make one by using the CAD files for a Voron 2.4 build. Opened in Fusion 360, you can select the rails and 3D print them. They will be full length, but you can cut them into smaller pieces in your slicer, or modify the file in Blender.

@@StevenLongley Thanks ill try that out

Also, I'd avoid any white grease (Hiwin recommend avoiding it too) - if the pigment is Titanium Dioxide, that stuff can significantly increase wear. They say 'no solid particles' in general.

@@jezclark4882 Is PTFE a solid particle?

@@TORDesign yes, and you should probably be avoiding it because it can cause the balls to slide, rather than roll, which actually increases wear. That said, if don't mind the extra wear but want to go faster, PTFE seems to be popular with the HevORT and VzBot crowd.

@@jezclark4882 I'd rather avoid wear - speed is not a problem with my Voron - but need to spray into the bearings - big job to remove the rails - so do you think the "WD-40 Specialist ® White Lithium Grease" is therefore the best choice?

@@TORDesign no I'd avoid anything white in case it has titanium dioxide in it (again, for wear reasons). Grease manufacturers recommend NLGI00, 30-200Cst, Lithium-based and no solid particles. I bought a grease from a manufacturer that fit those specifications and was sold as specifically being for rails on 3D printers; when it arrived, the tub said 'bearing grease' on it, so that might also be worth a search. Can't remember where I got it from, think I found it on amazon.

My LDO rails came with just rust preventative grease on em, so did the flush and re grease right away

@@CanuckCreator awesome, thank you sir, I will do the same. I have 5 of em in a box just waiting to go, and I trust your word over "theirs" any day of the week!

Its fine. The motors will easily overcome the sluggishness from the grease

As accurate as you can get spewing molten plastic out of a piece of hot metals :P Vorons are great machines, but be aware, in a work environment, they DIY machines, so they dont come with any tech support/warranty etc. so if something goes wrong your fully responsible for its upkeep and maintenance should anything go wrong

@@CanuckCreator I have a ender 3 and have had surprisingly good numbers and been able to get around .002(inches) with my target. I was just curious if that sounds reasonable for a voron.

@@lucasshaver2739 Long as you take the time to tune your slicer profile its possible. Pretty much all 3d printers using the same hardware for motion systems

@@CanuckCreator thank you. I know your time is valuable. I definitely appreciate you letting me bug you. I started printing the 2.4 kit today and hopefully I have a voron for my personal printer very soon.

Wherever you have movement that generates friction, including rolling balls, you need lubrication. Sometimes it's pre-lubed in the factory and needs no relubing, but that's only common for ball bearings.

But take this with same grain of sugar, or fungus start to build up. Those little hairys are nasty stuff, eating up any smoothness.

@@wernerhiemer406 That is nothing more than fake news. The sugar, dust and hair will improve things for the bearings.

To say it like some Canadian car extraction bucket emptier: "Gross!"

Should be fine

@@CanuckCreator Thanks for the reply, I heard that WD-40 just destroys your linear rods, i didn't know if that was true.

Your not using as lube, your using it on the rail itself for rust prevention, the bearings in the carriage get grease

I wouldn't use regular WD40 for this purpose like you said its a good cleaner but it is also for lubrication just not the best for this use case. What Nero is using is WD40 silicone spray grease which is what I use on my own rails. I use generic white lithium for my lead screws.

Another important note is there are now a full line of products from the WD-40 company, including grease and oils, along with the traditional WD-40 product for displacing water/ preventing rust.

He isn't using WD-40. He is using WD-40 branded lithium grease you can also get WD-40 branded PTFE Grease. You can get loctite branded stuff for 3D printers now. These are just brands everything except for the original WD-40 product is not NASA era WD-40.

anything with Moly in it is advised against for linear rails due to issues with abrasiveness and tolerances. Hiwin even specifically says not to use anything with Moly on their rails.

Yep, thats a method ive been using for awhile now

Ahh good to know didn’t actually know that it could be done thank you

Most rails now come pretty ok from the factory vs a few years ago Usually a flush and clean are all they need

For Moly I suppose you mean molybdenum grease. Well we used that in the factory were I used to work....on 300 mm barrell bearing in steel mill rolls that used to works at over 200°'C. I personally in light loaded bearings tend to use white lithium grease either spray or in a tube.

​ @Riccardo Regio: I edited my post, sorry. I was referring to the mentioned additives, which should just be non-abrasive, and in german bulletin boards, it is often warned not to use Molybdenum-Grease. In Germany, we have LiquiMoly, a company which advertises a lot, and their grease got that additive. When I searched the first time for a lubricant I was forwarded to "Liqui Moly P000371 MOLY 3510 LM 47 Langzeitfett + MoS2" (Langzeitfet = long term grease). Looking more closely it says "for extreme bearing pressure", but I didn't read it at first. It looked like an amount you could use in your hobby projects, and I just hoped to get stuff, which doesn't rot away before I actually use it. It seemed not to have a too high viscosity, and I didn't know about the effect that bearing balls just slide when they get that additive. They actually answered that question in their own bulletin board in German, too: forum-liqui-moly.de/index.php/forum/uebrige-produkte/1213-linearkugellager-schmieren-3d-drucker They answered that they would instead take silicone grease spray (so, it is pretty similar to your recommendation and maybe not the same to prevent people from using their Molybdenum products). However, it might be a problem, we only have in Germany. And I wonder how bad it actually is and if it matters for extremely cheap printers. In the end, that might be a question, if lubrication actually changes a lot, if half of the parts might be considered a little broken ^^.

@@maxmustermann2596 LM 47 will surely work, 3D printers don't require perfection to work

HIWIN speciffically advise against molybdenum and ptfe grease as they change the tolerances of the rails

@@rowlandstraylight I knew, that HIWIN advises against it. But I thought it stops the balls from spinning. Aren't the rails with or without preload? Can the change in tolerance due to Molybdenum have more of an impact than the switch between non preloaded to preloaded? I thought last time I read it, I didn't see a reason for their advice. Edit: When searching for the proof, where I read it, I couldn't find it anymore.

Wd 40 is a brand as well as a item In this case I'm using wd40 brand white lithium spray grease. Not wd40 the water displacement anti rust spray

Those particles are the grease. It's teflon/PTFE powder which is same stuff is used in bowden tubes and similar form of it is what makes FEP sheets used on UV printers. PTFE particles left behind shouldn't bind and should even still provide some lubrication (although they will probably fall out and disperse with use). You can get dry lube that does this specifically, it suspends the particles in a solvent instead of oil, it's used on bike chains for example since you don't want dust sticking to it. Also locksmiths use it on padlocks (or graphite based ones). I don't think oil based lube can really 'dry out' because it's oil. Very few oils will actually evaporate (there are ones that are used for oil paint). What can happen is it will go bad over time and 'gunk' up since oil does have a shelf life, but that will happen with or without particles and it will still leave behind stuff causing issues.

@@BadVoidShip What I reported is the general consensus. I know that the white powder is itself the lubricant, but if they are solid particles they can be displaced by the movement of the balls, and let the contact area without nothing, or even worse pack together and make small solid pieces that can interfere with the functioning of the rail. Grease on the other hand being fluid tends to maintain at least a film of in on the contact points. Oil will definitely evaporate, and even quickly, especially on a 50-60°C chamber, even grease will, it's well known that you have to regrease rails as periodic maintenance, in fact you'll find it on the panels where being colder it condensates. If you have a "normal" printer that only prints PLA open air, at ambient temperature, and in the range of 60 mm/sec probably you can get away with oil, just checking every now and then if it dried out.