Flex shaft lube

[RC Woodworks]

I bought some chain lube with moly yesterday fro a local auto part store. I soaked the shaft and sprayed some in the housing. Re-installed the flex shaft and let it set over night. Today when I use my machine and it worked great!

It was hardly warm and today's outside temp was in the 70's and warmer in my shop. I didn't find any Gunk brand but it said with moly on the can.

For those who are have Napa auto part stores, don't waste your money on the the spray lube they have. I was told it didn't have moly but it is a dry lube and works well. Not for the flex shaft, it dried like graphite. So don't waste your money.

I am sure you can find a chain lube with moly at a auto part store. Spray it on thick and let it sit over night. It works! I wish it would fix the check cut motor issue! :)

Rick

[rjustice]

Rick
I used the Gunk brand, Industrial chain lube with moly... and I am having excellent results... I now have about 55 hours on the machine and my cable is barely warm.... I changed it to this lube when I got the machine new and it actually began running at about 95-100 degrees. It is now running at about 85 after a several hour run. The shop is about 65-70 deg.
The one thing i did was put my cable in a food vacume sealer bag, and drenched it with the spray and pulled a vacume on it over night. I think it made all the difference by pulling the lube into the core of the cable. I pulled the cable out of the machine last week with about 50 hours and you couldnt even tell it had been used... I didnt bother to re lube yet... I am going to monitor the temperature regularly to see how long it goes before starting to rise again. This stuff impressed me for sure.

Ron

[RC Woodworks]

Ron, I put my flex on a board and spray a heavy coat on it. I even sprayed inside the housing. I let it set all night and I had the same results. Well I think anyway it has hardly got warm. Time will tell how long until it needs re- lubed.

I think the key is the moly. I looked for Gunk brand but the stuff I bought is chain lube with moly so that must be the key. I agree with you this stuff rocks!

Rick

[Gman_Ind]

Welcome back Rick you still sticking with it after 4 machines actually gave me hope that these are worth having.
My newest carver the flex shaft is getting warm near where the bread tie connects the wire to the shaft, it must be time for the lube soak already, i read someone put the shaft in a vacuum bag, I have an old one I can try this on, or maybe the Mrs would let me borrow hers for a the experiment.
What is that wire on the flex shaft for anyway?

[HandTurnedMaple]

The wire is a support to help keep it from binding. Remove the bread tie though. On my first CW, the cable got hot and caused the bread tie to heat up (since its so thin) and that's what melted through the insulation from the outside.

[RC Woodworks]

Welcome back Rick you still sticking with it after 4 machines actually gave me hope that these are worth having.
My newest carver the flex shaft is getting warm near where the bread tie connects the wire to the shaft, it must be time for the lube soak already, i read someone put the shaft in a vacuum bag, I have an old one I can try this on, or maybe the Mrs would let me borrow hers for a the experiment.
What is that wire on the flex shaft for anyway?

Thank you Gman, yes I am still on the 4th machine! I did send it in for repair and like many others I am still getting a check cut motor bug. I will be replacing the RPM sensor for the third time when I get it. CW told me they had a batch of bad RPM sensors. So I hope it will fix it, I still think it is a software issue!

I let my flex shaft soak over night in the housing before using it. I sprayed a heavy coat of moly lube and using the small straw I sprayed some in the housing. Ron is on to something and I spoke to others and the key(s) are moly lube and soaking the shaft!

The darn CC got me hooked on CNC machines my ShopBot should be shipped to my shop soon! Well I hope, they need to build it first. They already cashed my check !

Rick

[Dirtydan]

Is there a set time for lubing the flex shaft? I've got about 30 hours on the machine, and yes the flex shaft outer housing is a little warm, so should I be running out to get some molylube?

[rjustice]

Dirtydan,

It was originally reccomended to lube at 20 hours... there are many posts on here about a message comming up on the machine as a reminder to lube... Mine didnt remind me at 20 hours.. ???

I have pretty close to 60 hours now and it is still running cool... stable at about 85-87 degrees...

It seems hard to believe, but this may be a "permanent Lube" solution... As stated before... im going to keep monitoring my heat with an infrared thermometer, and once it starts climbing back up I will relube. I will post at that point and let everyone know how many hours i got...

Ron

[RC Woodworks]

Is there a set time for lubing the flex shaft? I've got about 30 hours on the machine, and yes the flex shaft outer housing is a little warm, so should I be running out to get some molylube?

Dan it's really up to you, but moly lube is good stuff. I started this thread to let others know there are different brand of moly lube other then Gunk. I couldn't find any Gunk locally and I know I could order it. But I wanted to be able to buy and use it the same day.

Where I live I have 3 auto parts stores. One being Napa and I bought some Napa brand dry lube. I was told by the part guy this was good stuff. It wasn't moly and when I used it the shaft still got really hot. So I warned others not to waste your money on the Napa dry lube.

Then I found a real moly lube and it works great. So it doesn't have to be Gunk brand unless you want Gunk. The other thing we have found that letting it soak over night works well. May it be Ron's way in a vacuum sealed plastic bag or soaking it really well and spraying some in the housing.

The key is soaking it and the lube should be moly. I would suggest you find some moly lube. It is not good letting your flex shaft over heat. One day it will break and you will be out of service!

Rick

[Bill]

It is not good letting your flex shaft over heat. One day it will break and you will be out of service!


Rick, You got that right. http://www.carvewright.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Kenm810]

Just a little info - Chain lube with moly is a dark to black liquid in a spray can,
remember to make sure you shake the can well,
don't get it on anything other then what it's intended to lube, It can be messy.
CL w/ moly -- Gunk, Tite Seal, Liquid Wrench, and Solder Seal are all the same Company.(Radiator Specialty Co.)

[rjustice]

I think that one of the issues with a flex cable like this is that because of the way it is wound in layers, you have a normal friction that occurs at the bends. This is because on the outside of the bends, the strands are stretched apart from each other, and on the inside of the bends, they are compressed against each other.

The strands that I am speaking of, are wound around a core wire and it is the stretching and compression movement against the core wire that causes the friction, and heat... That was where i came up with drawing a vacume on the cable... If the lube can get into the core consistantly, it reduces that friction as well as just the friction between the sheath and the outside of the flex cable....

Ok... getting too deep in theory here i guess, but hey, it is working really great for me.

And i definately agree with Ken... be careful where you do this... it stains anything it touches...

Ron

[pamjmayo]

Rick: What is a ShopBot? You are so excited about it, it must be special!

Pam

[Dirtydan]

Where did you get your infrared thermometer and how many $$$?

[rjustice]

Actually it was $49 here is the one i have..

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103171&cp=&sr=1&origkw=thermometer&kw=thermometer&parentPage=search


Ron

[eagle1]

The structure, appearance, and feel of molybdenum disulfide (moly lube) is similar to graphite. It is also often mixed into various oils and greases, which allows the mechanisms lubricated by it to keep running for a while longer, even in cases of almost complete oil loss - finding an important use in aircraft engines. It is often used in motorcycle engines, especially in areas of two-stroke engines which are not otherwise well lubricated.

During the Vietnam war, a commercial molybdenum disulfide product, "Dri-Slide", was used for lubricating troops' weapons; the military refused to supply it, as it was "not in the manual", so it was sent to soldiers by their parents and friends privately.

Another application is for coating bullets, giving them easier passage through the rifle barrel with less deformation and better ballistic accuracy.



Just thought you would like to know

[Dirtydan]

Now there is something out of the past... I carried a can of that around for at least 20 years... Just throw a couple of ball bearings into the can and your good to go..

Well I went shopping this afternoon... Ended up getting GUNK Liquid Wrench Chain Lube w/Moly and White Lithium Grease w/Cerflon both are slicker than the devil. I'm soaking the flex cable in the Moly now... Holding the White Lithium in reserve...just in case the moly doesn't work out.

Went all over trying to find a good Infrared Temp Gage... Radio Shack, Auto Zone and Cragen... Found a Micro Temp Digital Infrared Thermometer at Pep Boys....$50. (-58 - 752 Degrees F) Should work just fine...

Now tell me...at what temperature should I start to think about lubing the old flex cable again?

[pkunk]

There is a huge open pit mine (now gone underground) in my area that only mines Molybdenum. It's now on the Federal Superfund for cleanup.

[RC Woodworks]

Rick: What is a ShopBot? You are so excited about it, it must be special!

Pam

Wow another good topic! I am not smart enough to write down the brand of moly I bought!

Pam a ShopBot is a computerized router, like the CC but on a bigger scale. You can check them out at www.shopbot.com.

Rick

[Dirtydan]

Wow another good topic! I am not smart enough to write down the brand of moly I bought!

Pam a ShopBot is a computerized router, like the CC but on a bigger scale. You can check them out at www.shopbot.com (http://www.shopbot.com).

Rick

Are you sure that link is correct... It takes me to amazon.com

Found it... www.shopbottools.com (http://www.shopbottools.com)

[Bill]

Are you sure that link is correct... It takes me to amazon.com

This is the link your looking for
http://www.shopbottools.com/products.htm

[rjustice]

Now there is something out of the past... I carried a can of that around for at least 20 years... Just throw a couple of ball bearings into the can and your good to go..

Well I went shopping this afternoon... Ended up getting GUNK Liquid Wrench Chain Lube w/Moly and White Lithium Grease w/Cerflon both are slicker than the devil. I'm soaking the flex cable in the Moly now... Holding the White Lithium in reserve...just in case the moly doesn't work out.

Went all over trying to find a good Infrared Temp Gage... Radio Shack, Auto Zone and Cragen... Found a Micro Temp Digital Infrared Thermometer at Pep Boys....$50. (-58 - 752 Degrees F) Should work just fine...

Now tell me...at what temperature should I start to think about lubing the old flex cable again?

Dan, when i first lubed mine up it ran 100-110..... It has gradually came down to 85-87 and seems to be stable here.... there is one spot that is a little warmer where the metal support touches the cable (where it had a bread twist tie on it from the factory)... it is about 5 degrees warmer right at that point... but i have close to 60 hrs now and still running great.

Ron

[eagle1]

Here is a place to get a lubricant for just about anything take a look

https://www.russack.com/index.php

eagle1
__________________________________________________ __________
Only need two things in life are needed - Duct Tape & WD-40
If it's to stay put Duct tape it - If it's to move WD-40 it!

[RC Woodworks]

Opps, Gunny and Bill my bad! I should know the web site! I still can't wait until I get mine. Next month ShopBot is having a jamboree in San Mateo Ca. The wife and I are going to it for the week. They will be having a free day of training and I can't wait!

I know this has nothing to do with moly lube, so I will say moly lube rocks!

Rick

[CW Rookie]

I just received an order from McMaster-Carr and bought some Dri-Slide Moly to try on the chuck. Also got some of those 3M sanding discs that look very neat for sanding out the fuzzies.

The Dri-slide was only about $8 and the discs were 0.85 each. Had it shipped regular ground and for the $4something shipping they had the package at my door the next afternoon, FedEx ground.

Somehow I think I'll be doing A LOT of shopping with them!!!

They also have several types of Moly lubricants that look like they'd work on the flex shaft, some possibly better than the Gunk product, but I've had fairly good results with the Gunk Moly so will stay with that until the CW folks recommend something different (or I get more confident and decide to experiment a bit!)

[Dirtydan]

Ok, I lubed the flex shaft and stuck it back in... Running a project right now and the temp ranges from 86.6 to 117 degrees F at the max bend radius. WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE....

Also, there's another carrier like spring/shield inside the flex shaft housing. What's the purpose of that thing? Ideas/Answers????

[rjp736]

I think the spring just keeps the flex shaft from contacting the housing to keep the friction down.

[RC Woodworks]

Robbie, I think you are correct. I think the spring helps keeps the shaft from wearing through the housing.

Gunny I think the best test is your own touch! If it cool enough to touch and doesn't feel too hot. Then I believe you are ok. With the temp finder you are getting outside heat contributing to your readings. The warmer outside the warmer it will feel. Then on the other hand the cooler it is the cooler the flex shaft.

So when it gets too warm to touch, then it is time to relube!

Ricxk

[Dirtydan]

Thanks everyone for your input... It just seems like it got hotter after I lubed the flex shaft... Of course it could all be in my head, now that I can see what the temp actually is... I understand the affect of ambient temp on the reading, but there is a diffent hot spot on the outer housing that is always around 117 degrees. Heck, for all I know it may have been the same or hotter before I did the lube job...

I thought someone from CW might have the actual answer.

:D Thanks again...:D

[rjustice]

Mine was warmer at first, and got gradually cooler... which may support the thinking that you can get it over lubed. I did dry mine off before re-installing it, but i would estimate at about 10 hours it went down to about 85-87 and has been running stable temps since.

Ron

[RC Woodworks]

Thanks everyone for your input... It just seems like it got hotter after I lubed the flex shaft... Of course it could all be in my head, now that I can see what the temp actually is... I understand the affect of ambient temp on the reading, but there is a diffent hot spot on the outer housing that is always around 117 degrees. Heck, for all I know it may have been the same or hotter before I did the lube job...

I thought someone from CW might have the actual answer.

:D Thanks again...:D

Dan, didn't mean to sound arrogant. I didn't mean to imply you didn't know your heat sensor is effect by outside temps. I just found the best way to check the flex shaft is to just grap it!

I take you called CW and they didn't have an answers? You did use moly lube? I spray that dry lube from Napa first and then the moly. Maybe the 2 together help cut down on the heat? I took the small straw and sprayed the inside of the housing also. Without the spring.

Ron discovered it may take a bit to work in. Again Gunny I apologize if I sounded like a know it all. But most of all if I offended you. I have a problem expressing my thought in words.

Rick