# Cleaning Linear Bearings



## matthewsx (Apr 24, 2020)

Hi,

My x-axis is kinda sticky and rough feeling, leading the coupling to slip. I took the machine apart but now I'm at a standstill figuring out how to proceed. I have IKO LWL-15 bearings. https://www.ikont.co.jp/global_data/download/pdf_catalog/cat5510.1ML.pdf

Their documentation is a little ambiguous about lubrication, referring to ports I don't have on these units (I have four that I want to service). My gut instinct is to take a can of brake cleaner and squirt them out followed by some spray lithium grease. I figure some of you must have dealt with this before so please let me know if I'm gonna mess anything up here.




I'd rather spend my money on bellows to keep them clean than replacing these expensive little buggers.

Thanks,

John


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## Cadillac (Apr 24, 2020)

I've rebuilt Thompson linear bearings for a grinder at work. One day was using the machine and saw some of the balls laying on the rail. Grinder uses a spray coolant and had gotten into the blocks ended up rusting some of the balls. I ended up measuring and buying replacement balls from McMaster  and replacing all of them. The blocks were a little different than yours for the fact that they had zerks on the ends. I took the ends off sprayed the channel till clean then repacked the balls in the channel. All this was done with the blocks removed from the rail. Worked great and saved from having to buy 4 1200.00 bearing assy. Machine is still in use 10yrs later.


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## mmcmdl (Apr 24, 2020)

We clean ours and use white lithium grease very lightly . We just did a set of 4 yesterday . If I could get out to the dumpster tomorrow , we have slides and bearing s complete and good . We just junked the machine .


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## matthewsx (Apr 24, 2020)

mmcmdl said:


> We clean ours and use white lithium grease very lightly . We just did a set of 4 yesterday . If I could get out to the dumpster tomorrow , we have slides and bearing s complete and good . We just junked the machine .



Do you remove them from the rail? Also what do you use for cleaning?

Thanks,

John


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## mmcmdl (Apr 24, 2020)

So we have a bi-directional ball screw on some of our machines . The motor does not change direction but the carriage changes direction at a given point . I have not quite figured this out yet but I'm trying .


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## mmcmdl (Apr 24, 2020)

matthewsx said:


> Do you remove them from the rail? Also what do you use for cleaning?


Yes , we remove them and use red CRC brake cleaner then white lithium grease when re-installing . Just about every line in our company uses them and they tend to break down on nightshift the past 2 years . The past month , they break down on dayshift .


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## mmcmdl (Apr 24, 2020)

Matt , we have also gone to some of the ceramic bearings and they have held up nice . These machines run 24-7 .


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## matthewsx (Apr 24, 2020)

Okay, thanks for the info. I know these things are made to run a long time so it's unlikely I'll ever wear one out. Good to know my instinct is what industry uses....

John


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## Cadillac (Apr 24, 2020)

Be careful if the channel in the block doesn’t capture the balls enough they will fall out. Depends on how they were designed so I can’t say it will or not. If you take the end plate off you will see how they circulate through the block and if captured.if not captured you will have to assemble on the rail hanging the block off alittle and feed the balls in.


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## matthewsx (Apr 24, 2020)

Well, it's running smoothly now minus 5 balls in one block....

No, they weren't captive and I should have just closed it back up after the first 3 balls came out. Oh well, I believe these things are designed to be able to run with a few less balls than max capacity. I'm not running a factory here so I will just keep the extra balls for some day in the future when I get motivated to take it far enough apart to get them back in.

Knowing what I know now I would have just cleaned with brake cleaner and lubed with the spray lithium grease and been done. At least I learned something and that's what this whole project is about 


Cheers,

John


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## Cadillac (Apr 25, 2020)

If you measure the balls they have what you’d need at McMaster Carr. They sell by the hundred and for the size it might be 10 dollars at most.


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## matthewsx (Apr 25, 2020)

I have the ones that came out, it's just a PITA to take the machine apart to where I could put them back in. Plus, those little buggers really don't want to do anything you would like them to....

Doesn't seem to be hurting anything so I think I'll just leave it be for now.

John


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## RJSakowski (Apr 25, 2020)

mmcmdl said:


> So we have a bi-directional ball screw on some of our machines . The motor does not change direction but the carriage changes direction at a given point . I have not quite figured this out yet but I'm trying .


This sounds a lot like the level wind mechanism used on fishing reels.  There is a groove with left and right hand lead on the shaft with the end of one lead connecting to the other.  A key rides in the groove.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv7cXR1UkWQ


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## mmcmdl (Apr 26, 2020)

RJSakowski said:


> This sounds a lot like the level wind mechanism used on fishing reels. There is a groove with left and right hand lead on the shaft with the end of one lead connecting to the other. A key rides in the groove.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv7cXR1UkWQ



Yes it is . We call it the cam screw . It has a ball screw with leads in both directions and the carriage rides on 4 linear bearings . We also wind filters on the other machines using similar mechanisms .


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