Two things that don’t match; the teensy tiny 10g of grease you get in the kit, and the official Creality “how to” video that shows them slapping the stuff on like they have forty tonnes in an articulated trailer out back.
I want to be a good little customer and keep my machine in good working order… but don’t really want to be buying these ridiculous tiny bits (at vastly inflated prices - £5 for 10g may not sound much, but works out to £500.00 per kilo, when there are greases I can buy for one tenth of that if IM buy half a kilo or so.
But…what type? There seem to be equal numbers of people saying do/don’t use any type of grease you care to name. White Lithium, PTFE, dry lube…
Not sure about “guidance” but information on bearings in general and a bit of experience I have. This is my opinion, not advice. My dad worked for Cooper bearings in the 40’s. Hand making Cooper split bearings. They are still around to this day. My dads adage was if a bearing would run well for 20 minutes it should run for 20 years if cared for. Not under or overlubricated not subject to overload or overspeed. As an engineer I have seen my share of industrial half baked “bearing” solutions and had to fix them so they would outlive me. 3 decades and counting, so far so good.
I have been running a now 12 year old Airwolf printer on bearing rods and threaded rods with NUTS that are less robust than the Creality ones and irregular grease and oiling have maintained them in as new condition. My biggest mistake was using a graphite spray lubricant that turned to have acetone as a carrier and my bearing mounts, being printed abs on that old printer, summarily dissolved. After that debacle it was standard lithium auto, marine household grease alternated with a light motor oiling every few hundred or so prints (or if it started to squeak). Many thousands of prints on that printer.
Creality advertizes their grease as "Noise Reduction, Anti-Wear Lubrication, Environmentally Friendly And Harmless. Virtually all greases do the first two. Some are environmentally friendly but how much of the grease you use are you going to go around smearing all over ducklings? As to harmless (???), I have not seen or read the MSDS on the Creality grease but bet if I gulped down a liter of it, I would probably be somewhat worse for wear (pun intended).
Industry rates grease performance somewhat differently.
The 6 critical characteristics are:
1- Film thickness formation. Keeping the bits that are trying to destroy each other apart.
2- Consistency and Mechanical/Shear Stability. How much can you beat the crap out of it.
3- Oxidation Stability. Time, what will it take?
4- Rust and Corrosion Resistance. Environmental abuse!
5- Extreme Pressure Performance and Wear Evaluation. Use abuse.
6- Extreme Temperature Performance. Welcome to hell.
Compared to what grease sees in the axles of your car, the environment of a typical 3D printer is heaven. You probably do not want to use some grease that has to be chipped out of the pot but any standard duty axle grease from your local auto shop should not harm the seals or structure of the printer. After my experience with the fancy graphite spray, the more boring the better.
No disrespect to the Creality grease but mine is still in the tube. I use lithium axle grease because it is what I have on hand for lubing trailer bearings when I overhaul them. Being mechanically well made and well maintained I do not foresee any lubrication related issues with my K2. Time will tell though.
I have a container (the type that camera film used to come in) with Molybdenum Disulfide Grease in it.
A friend of mine gave it to me many years ago. He was an engineer in the Australian airforce and swore by it.
I have seen it produced by a few companies online such as Penrite and is not expensive.
I also have a container (jar) that has chain/bearing lube supplied to Fuji printer mechanics that I believe to be white silicon grease which I also cant fault.
I also would not use any form of spray as Cannonman noted, because of the added crap used in making it spray.
Oil wise, Singer sewing machine oil is probably all you would need. Their machines run for decades when oiled regularly.
Thank you gents. I’m thinking that 500g tub of lithium grease will do me very nicely for the price. I’m a chemist (industrial, not pharmaceutical) by training, so the one rule I would have known would be the “avoid solvents” one. The others I’d have worked out, but I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a “must have” or “steer clear” product.
I’ll stick with grease rather than oil more because of my Parkinson’s…one twitch and there’d be oil everywhere…I feel grease will be more forgiving/controllable.
To Amazon, Batman!
Edit: to GTSE, even.
A dim and distant memory surfaces. One of the products I saw a link to was from a company called Fuchs, who bought out a company called Century Oils in my hometown. I did a week’s work experience in their laboratories in high school. That was over 40 years ago. Apparently not a lot sank in…though I do remember their products all had three letter codes.
I scored points for not falling for the “new guy” joke of being sent to stores for a tub of LBO grease…though I did get all the way to the lab door before I turned around and said “I thought elbow grease came in a tube, not a tub?”.
The chemist turned to my careers officer and said “Yeah. We’ll take this one…”
I use this stuff for some years on almost everything that needs some oil i swear by it. I get it free from my work you dont need much. You can also use is to protect iron rvs and much more metals from chemicals rust and much more. You can use it to clean. You can even use it to make look old plastic like new, i use it also for my car. The got much variants i use the spray cans.
I’m not an expert but I thnk the oil/gerease must be stable at higher temperatures (up to 100 °C) for a prolonged time. Wouldn’t be a good idea to use an synthetic engine oil? It should check all 6 criterias mentioned by Cannonman.
Having watched the Creaility video on greasing the rods and screws, all I can say is “If some is good, then more is better and way too much is just right”.
With lubrication, a little goes a long ways. There is only so much clearance between components. You can apply 5 gallons, but only so much will be left in the clearance space between the moving components, the rest just piles up on the outside of the sliding component. But, if your selling grease, this is a great advertisement. Use tiny amounts, wipe and reapply often. My printers run 24-7, I wipe and apply every Monday. Tiny. Tiny amounts of grease and very little waste. The tube Creality ships with the printer lasts me a year.
