geasing the pinions

[Ajcoholic]

How often are we supposed to apply the supplied grease to the Buddy's rack and pinion system?

Every so many hours? Or when it looks dry? Is there a set maintenence schedule?

(guess I better have another look at the book)

AJC

[Brady Watson]

You probably won't find much info 'in the book' on maintenance. I tell customers to keep the racks wet with grease, as steel on steel is not good. Also, grab some stainless el cheapo brushes from Horrible Freight and rake those teeth out when debris or hardened grease clogs the teeth.

Alternatively you can use a good quality 'spray grease'. I like Cyclo brand with the green cap. Regular white lithium is not the correct lubricant. It is not thick enough to provide the 'cushion' that a true grease will provide. Of course, the spray grease is lighter than the grease that SB gives you & as a result, you should hit the racks about once every 40 hrs in my experience.

To make life easy on yourself, set the MS to something like 1 IPS and spray the pinion with a 'blip' every second or two to evenly spread the grease. Then run the tool back and forth to distribute it & wipe the sides of the racks off with a rag.

-B

[rcnewcomb]

wipe the sides of the racks off with a rag

I found the belly of my shirt was just as effective

[khaos]

I found the belly of my shirt was just as effective

I thought the tooth pattern was part of the shopbot logo for the longest time ..

[Stagecraft]

I found the belly of my shirt was just as effective

We always refer to that as a "Shopbot Smile", seeing as a bit of a paunch results in a happy looking grease stain.
Can't tell you how many shirts I've ruined over the years ;-)

[Ajcoholic]

Thanks Brady, will just use the tube they gave me until it runs out.
Lucky for me I keep my shop and the buddy very clean, and I don't get any dust and grease mixing and making a paste. I have to say my dust collection is very good!

Will grease once per week or two depending how much it gets used.

[jerry_stanek]

When I was at the Aspire gathering I told Keith Outten about how I used a piece of vinyl to cover my racks and he said a piece of magnate roll would work also. I thought that was a good idea as you could just peel it off to grease and stick back on. I cut mine just a little wider than the rack so it doesn't interfere with the pinion.