What kind of grease for threaded rods?

Hey guys, what kind of grease do you usually use on your threaded rods, I am thinking some white lithium grease will work nicely, but I would like to know what some of you are useing.

I'm using lithium as I had some around from my bike. It works great, and as far as I know doesn't have any long term effects on the strength of ABS unlike other greases.

I'm using mineral oil of all things. No smell, less of a smudge factor for people with nice clothes(not that I even wear any!). I also use it on the smooth rods for the linear bearings.

Lithium sounds like a good heavy duty choice though. Doesn't dry off like most other greases.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

high tempratue bearing grease im using

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I use car engine oil. Grease seems to gum them up eventually.

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Lithium grease is good for gears and threads.

For any sliding surfaces, i recommend a silicon grease.

I find paintball branded grease works good. keeps things slick, but not tacky

be sure to wipe down and re-apply once in a while.

Any grease will collect dust and dirt over time.

Oil usually doesn't keep to an exposed surface, and WD40 is NOT a lubricant

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2013 05:37PM by ShadowRam.

I'm with nophead. Don't use grease. It collects dust and once enough dust gets on, it turns into hard-to-remove gunk.

Occasional wipe with some car engine oil works great.

Using engine assembly lube here, and lighten it up once a month with 3-in-1 oil.

Engine oil! I wonder if transmission oil would work also? Isn't it designed not to gum up? It has even more detergents than engine oil, and none of the stuff needed to deal with extreme heat, acidity and carbon?

I have to agree WD-40 is not a lubricant. Its main ingredient is marketing.

Has anyone tried a dry lubricant, like spray on graphite maybe?

Sewing machine oil also might be a good candidate.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

I am using bike chain grease on my threaded rods with great success. That being said, I am also using brass nuts. The standard steel nuts left me a little bit unconvinced.
For a long time, the linear rails remained unlubricated (I am using UHMW-PE bushings, so I didn't see the need for lubrication) until they began squeaking. After that, some silicone spray improved the situation drastically.

CRC Multi Grease here for the threaded rods and bearings, lovely and smooth.

Ben

Someone suggested automatic transmission fluid in another thread.

I can strongly suggest NOT to use garage door opener screw drive lubricant, which is a grey silicon grease. I tried it on my Z-axis rods on my Prusa i3 and now I'm waiting for Home Depot to open so I can replenish my supply of spare M5 nuts...

When I saw the right Z-axis nut was stripped I decided to remove the left Z-axis nut (shown in reverse order in the attached picture) and found that it was almost completely stripped.



Without lubricant they were squeaking which is not a good sign but this type of stripping usually comes from having something gritty. There could be some wood carbon from the laser cut wood parts but I'm inclined to blame the lubricant.

My problem is that I also have insufficient clearance at the bottom of the shaft for a proper stepper motor linkage so I'm concerned about lighter lubricants like light machine oil or sewing machine oil getting into the vinyl tubing / heatshrink coupling I'm using. ATF or gearbox lubricant lightly applied sounds good...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2013 07:48AM by papergeek.

i use brass nuts on stainless steel screws with a bit of sewing machine oil and that seems to work quite well, only ever oiled it once

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I printed some nylon M8 nut blanks for someone I worked with. He then tapped them to use them on his Z axis (very short actuation of <50mm. Runs lubrication-free and smooth on stainless threaded rods; while I don't have long-term and long actuation data on them, I think nylon nuts may be an interesting option. If you're lucky, you may also be able to obtain them from hardware stores, by the way.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2013 04:11PM by uGen.

I use PTFE lubricant since I had some for another project. Works great for me.

Has anyone tried good old fashioned lard?

(Just kidding!)

I started with white lithium grease, but that collected dirt way too fast, and ended up causing a lot of problems. I switched to a light motor oil since I had a couple quarts laying around, and that has been working great.

I use nothing, when it gets squeaky i just use a bit of rope to clean that bit up a bit, it seems to get less and less squeaky over time and no apparent damage. I hope any wear that continues is mainly on the nuts, those are easier/cheaper to replace. The threaded rods dont seem to have sustained much damage so far.

I used some of my sewing machine oil on mine. It is what's called water oil, very light, but if it's good enough for Mr Singer....
Although I'm still just building my printer, I figured I should keep the bearings etc lubricated from day one.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2013 03:16AM by mrsbruce.

pure graphite grease in my case....