Hello everyone I have recently striped and degreased my losmandy g11 I am now a bit lost on what to do next grease wise I have searched hi and low for some good quality white lithium grease but only found spray on types are these ok to use? Otherwise would inox mx8 grease which is lithium and ptfe based be better/ok as it is solid I don't want to use the wrong type and screw my mount.
Also can anyone inform me as to the dangers degreaser might pose to sealed bearings as I have a one piece worm and am wondering about how best to degrease the worm (bathing it or careful scrubbing.) my worm gears also have sealed bearings on the inside that I having difficulty revoming.
Grady
PM Peter_4059 as he obtained some special grease from a locksmith here in Brisbane that both of us used to hyper tune our EQ6 mounts.
If he says it's Locktite don't believe him but I can't remember the real name.
Allan
Hi Grady,
Sorry about your loss.
I used clean my steering head bearings of my motorcycle with Kerosene then air dry, then re-pack with Marine bearing grease. I used latex gloves when cleaning and re-greasing so as not to leave any fingerprints on bare metal which may contaminate the grease. I hope this helps.
Cheers!
Marc's choice raises an interesting point - what is good for rolling bearings is not good for precision worms.
Ordinary grease is just oil mixed with something to stop it running away. The commonest additive is lithium soap. The soap forms a tangled web of fine strands which soaks up to oil. At a microscopic level, the type of soap can produce a structure looking like a nylon scourer or a paper towel. Adding a clay thickener produces something like a scourer packed with sawdust.
An oily scourer structure is not so good for sliding contact.
The strands in a soap matrix are about 1/3 to 3 microns wide. A wheel in a typical mount is roughly 360 mm in circumference. A variation in lubrication film thickness of one strand translates to 1 - 10 arc seconds. Precision worm drives need special lubricant.
Ok, a massive necro thread revival here, but I've got a follow up on this:
How much grease (say the INOX MX6 stuff) needs to be used? Is a 30g tube enough or is worth getting a larger supply? I did a bit of a search but I can't tell for sure if I have surplus how longs it lasts - any "use by" date for it?