Machine maintenace?

[awalt1250]

I was wondering what everyone is doing to maintain their Desktop Shopbots.

[bob_dodd]

Andy ; I keep the slides/rails clean several times a day when cutting
also clean top of Z motor

[wespor]

Andy ; I keep the slides/rails clean several times a day when cutting
also clean top of Z motor

I often wonder/worry about the slides. I try to keep them clean as well but do you think dust or debris ever manages to get underneath or does the weight of the rails make that unlikely?

[awalt1250]

do the lead screws need to be lubed?

[bob_dodd]

The lead screws on my machine are black color , nothing seems to stick to them , Teflon maybe???

[scottp55]

I dry moly screws(see if you can get a dry molybdenum can with the "straw" attachment-mine doesn't and hard to get at Z) at the end of day or 8 hours run time(use a piece of stationary paper behind them and just slide paper along as you spray so you don't turn everything black-fold paper in half to do Z last). a drop of light weigh oil on rails once a week on both sides of rails and move to your limits a few times lets the built in felt sweeps get oiled again and wipe of excess to stop attracting dust and use same paper towel to swipe the bottoms of the rails. Once a month or so I put a drop of sewing machine oil on the screws and run my limits a few times again and wipe off excess. Do NOT try to use grease fitting as Shopbot recommends against it(They were made for a different application than Shopbots).

[scottp55]

Oh, Bob, 2 months I was out of the sewing machine oil and used a very quick shot of Tri-Flow and seemed to work very well.