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.