38
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I am curious how often do you service the linear rails on the 3D-printer:

  • How often do you lubricate them (MGN9 or MGN12)?
  • How do you lubricate them?
  • What volume of lube do you use?

Explanation of how often you should do it (HIWIN Lubricating instructions for linear guideways and ballscrews)

Most 3D-printer use MGN12. Reading the HIWIN documentation they shall be lubricated every 20-50km (depends on a lot of factors).

How much is 50km in print time? Assuming an average speed of 300mm/s that would be approx. 46 hours!

In other words, the generic MGN12H carriage needs 1-2 times per week maintenance.

How much lube is suggested (horizontal mounting)? 70µL for MGN12H. For MGN9H it is 30µL!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Generally lubricate every few hundred hours, however you really should consider condition based lubrication over time based, over lubrication is actually a really common failure mode for rotary bearings and would not be surprised if the same is true for linear bearings. 50km intervals sounds like an order of magnitude too frequently based on what I recall from Thompson, yeah the bearing type, loading, cleanliness etc all play a part, but their examples are in the hundred of km range, not tens.

Are you ensuring that you're actually getting grease into the bearing as well? The MGNxxX bearings are usually sealed, you need to get past them to actually lubricate as you want to expel the degraded grease. Myself, I do some white lithium via syringe and then machine oil on the rails, and even that's probably excessive. Moving the bearings by hand along their length of travel will give you a feel for them as well, there's a lot more you could do but I'll be totally honest that it's probably not worth doing, consequence of failure is basically nothing in the hobby space (no risk of injury, low costs, no impacts to business, basically if a bearing goes you're out what like $50? and an hour)

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

The 50km figure is out of the HiWin application note at 30% load capacity. Even with 0% load it won't go above 150km.

Looking at the Thompson-Link: It is for the self-lubrication block (long-term lubrication unit) which indeed has a much higher endurance. Raising maintenance intervals to roughly once per year. As far as I know, they are only available for MGN15 and larger.

this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
38 points (95.2% liked)

3DPrinting

14841 readers
10 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: [email protected] or [email protected]

There are CAD communities available at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS