Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
Hi, under what situation do we use Prusa Lubrican? I recall that one time my machine malfunction (i.e. the extruder did not move at the distances the software intended due to friction), a support staff asked me to use it on the rods. I may be wrong but it seems that putting some drops of Prusa Lubrican on the rod and then move the extruder/build plate to spread the lubricant across the rod is not very effective. Putting a few drops of lubricant on the rod and then using a paper towel to rub the rob seems to have the lubricant absorbed by the towel than have it spread along the rod. Often, using either of the above methods just pushes these small blocks of lubricant to the end of the rod. On YouTube, some people used machine oil which at least on video, seems to be able to spread on the rod and possibly on the small balls in the bearing more effective. Based on your experience, which product is better on making the motion of the extruder and build plate smooth?
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
Bearing should be greased wen disabled.
After that, clean all rods, to get dirt away from printer, then put a drop of oil on the rods, the last oil should be done every few rolls(2 or 3).
Then your axis will keep running smooth.
I got thin oil with ptfe inside
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
Thanks. Any recommended oil products?
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
I will occasionally rub Superlube on the rods, like maybe once a month or so.
Between those I'll put a drop of light generic hardware store oil on the rods every so often, depending on how heavily it's used. I get in the habit of doing this at the start of any significant project.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
Among Super Lube 51004 Synthetic Oil with PTFE High Viscosity, 56204 O-Ring Silicone Lubricant Clear, Synthetic Grease with Syncolon (PTFE) and Singer Lubricant, which is the best for i3 MK3s?
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
See here for guides:
https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/i3-printers-regular-maintenance_2072
https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/regular-maintenance-mini_133222#bearings-maintenance
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
See here for guides:
https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/i3-printers-regular-maintenance_2072
https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/regular-maintenance-mini_133222#bearings-maintenance
Nice collection ….Keep posting such things.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
I have been using this universal grease for such applications for many years liqui moly LM50 for slide bearings and also ball bearings.
https://pim.liqui-moly.de/pidoc/P000370/3406-LM50LithoHT-15.0-us.pdf
Occasionally I put some drops of machine oil LM AN46 on the guide shafts.
If someone wants to lubricate the Z-axis trapezoidal thread, PTFE lubricants are well suited, for example something like this: https://products.liqui-moly.com/ptfe-powder-spray-2.html
Statt zu klagen, dass wir nicht alles haben, was wir wollen, sollten wir lieber dankbar sein, dass wir nicht alles bekommen, was wir verdienen.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
@peter-c20
I use Superlube oil: The key is the high viscosity stuff and not the grease. The grease is not good for the bearings.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
@charles-h13
One cannot say that grease is not good for bearings. The grease is basically oil with thickeners. Friction and heat are generated during movement and the grease automatically becomes more fluid.
In addition, when using oil alone, it must be constantly re-lubricated. Grease is rather maintenance-free. With oil you have to take care that the oil film does not break, the bearings run dry, and this can easily happen if you do not check regularly.
Statt zu klagen, dass wir nicht alles haben, was wir wollen, sollten wir lieber dankbar sein, dass wir nicht alles bekommen, was wir verdienen.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
@karl-herbert
Understood. The thick stuff (Superlube) gunks up my bearing and makes them move less smoothly. Say what you will, but I would prefer smoother moving bearings.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
Oil is great until that time you have a long print (>24 hrs) then it fails and you get scoring of the rods. I can vouch for this!.
Grease is no good if too thick and ideally should be thin enough for the balls to recirculate easily inside the bearing, the grease recommended by Prusa is not bad at all but does not seem to be available anywhere except the Czech republic.
I'm using a semi fluid steering box lube which works great and is apply able with a syringe but smells a bit.
Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
@chocki
1000s of hours of printing with thin Superlube and not issue. Over a dozen printers, often at the same time. The stick stuff just gums up. It will remain in my tool chest to lubricate rocket motors and z-screws on the printer. It works well for those.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
It's good when everyone has their own recipe and everything works. I think that very few Prusa users have a problem with defective bearings. The few here in the forum probably had bad bearings installed.
As I said, I follow the advice of the bearing designers - they should know.
There will probably be 100 answers to the question of this topic.
Statt zu klagen, dass wir nicht alles haben, was wir wollen, sollten wir lieber dankbar sein, dass wir nicht alles bekommen, was wir verdienen.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
@karl-herbert
Very true. 3D printer like rocket folks tend to be set in their ways and do what works for them.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
Very true. 3D printer like rocket folks tend to be set in their ways and do what works for them.
I think the bottom line here is not what product is used to periodically lubricate the printer, but the fact that the lubrication is done regularly.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
One local eshop here specialized for 3D printing and robotics had some lubricant from Klueber Systems, so I threw it in basket. It's said to be specialized for slower-moving motion systems like 3D printers. https://www.klueber.com/us/en/products-service/lubricants/lubricating-greases/ the Microlube GL261 one. May be just marketing but hey, the tube is bigger than Prusa's microtube LOL.
So far I have used lube from Prusa eshop, but one dry bearing can eat like quarter of that tube.
When greasing rods occasionally, I wipe them from dust and grease smears, put a tiny bit of grease on finger and smear it around the rod, from both sides of bearing, and slide it around few times.
RE: Prusa Lubrican or machine oil
@crawlerin
Who (End users in Europe) wants to use the Klueber GL261 more often universally, here on ebay favorable offers, e.g.:
1Kg for 40 Euros.
Statt zu klagen, dass wir nicht alles haben, was wir wollen, sollten wir lieber dankbar sein, dass wir nicht alles bekommen, was wir verdienen.