Oil v. Grease

I have been reading Arc Euro's very useful "Mini-Lathe Preparation Guide". The Guide shows the various lathe bearings and surfaces that are to be cleaned, oiled and greased with an appropriate lubricant.

The one and only thing that I know about lubrication is that oil will flow, and is taken into rotating bearings by capillary action.

Are there any simple rules as to whether a bearing/surface should be oiled or greased? When are oil and grease suitable alternatives for each other?

Thank you.

GeorgeW

I used grease at the beginning of my lathe work

Then one day I had to clean up one heck of a mess, it took days to get things ship shape again

Now I use oil, and only oil, and nothing but oil

Yes, grease is a pig to get rid of,

I use chainsaw oil on my changewheels, it stays where its put.

Roy

Edited By wheeltapper on 26/03/2012 21:50:54

Hi

I use Mobil Vactra No2 oil on the slide-ways and exposed slower moving parts on both my lathe and mill. It is supposed to be designed for this purpose with low stick & slip and good retention under thin film conditions. When it comes to a clean down then after a good go with the vacuum cleaner it only needs a quick wipe down to remove the rest and finer swarf etc. Not only is it a good lubricant but it helps to stop rust forming on the exposed bright metal work.

As said above I would never recommend using grease other than in a sealed enclosure like the spindle of a mill or fully covered parts etc.

Cheers

Martin W

Only use grease in rolling element bearings - an appropriate grade of oil for everything else.

Using grease on the slideways is a guaranteed way of reducing the life of your machine - the grease holds fine swarf, mill scale, rust etc. & forms a very effective grinding paste. Regularly applied oil flushes these normal products of using the machine out of the slideways.

Look to industrial practice - CNC machines with conventional slideways use automatic systems to regularly apply slideway oil directly to the moving elements. Grease is only used in machines with linear bearing guides - even then, most machines so equipped tend to use oil in my experience.

Regards,

Nigel B.

I have put grease into those ebay sealed bearings if it's going to be used quite heavily

You can pop the seal off, apply some grease and reseal the bearing

Many thanks to the four gentlemen who responded to my enquiry.

I shall avoid using grease, and use an oil instead on the slideways.

Martin W's mention of Mobil Vactra 2 was particularly helpful, and I'm now off to purchase some!

Thank you again.

GeorgeW

I use grease on my mini-lathe roller bearings. They are as big or bigger than car wheel bearings and those can do 200,000 miles plus without aghrease change under far worse duty and condtions. the exception is if you use floods of coolant that can reach the bearing.

Neil

Neil

Thank you for your remarks about greasing mini-lathe roller bearings.

Eventually I'll follow the Arc Euro guide and replace the spindle bearings, but for this first lathe strip down I'll give it a miss.

George