Cleaning and Greasing Delrin Gears

[John TenEyck]

What solvents are OK to use on Delrin or similar UHMW plastic gears to remove lubricant? I assume the lubricant is something like Lubriplate or similar. And after I get them clean, what grease types are OK? I want to clean/relube the planetary gears on my Inca planer and can't afford to do something stupid. Thanks in advance.

[Chris Mahmood]

What solvents are OK to use on Delrin or similar UHMW plastic gears to remove lubricant? I assume the lubricant is something like Lubriplate or similar. And after I get them clean, what grease types are OK? I want to clean/relube the planetary gears on my Inca planer and can't afford to do something stupid. Thanks in advance.

INCA recommended lithium grease but there might be something better that doesn't collect dust. From the manual, http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/cB6NTQcMTkVwKEXP_o1tkhnPpmaD7AAq4Z7WcY8OpCeF8aaC3b p9IoP72AiJcf95m7LmBX4C1bxyrHpCa3lF7XkA4v2U6AyrmLZJ ag/INCA%20570%20Lubrication.pdf

[John TenEyck]

Thanks, but my machine is a little different and has a planetary gear system. My question relates to cleaning/relubing the Delrin gears. See photo below.

188219

[Steve Ryan]

Clean Delrin with plain old mineral spirits if you want, or even a blast of WD40 and a bit of elbow grease. Delrin and Acetal are pretty darn inert and will not be easily harmed by solvents. If it was mine I would just scrub out the old stuff with a toothbrush, wipe the rest as best as possible, and re lube.

[Neil Brooks]

Gotta' agree with Steve on this one.

If it were me ... toothbrush AND WD-40 is the way I'd approach it.

And I would probably agree with Chris, and use the white lithium grease -- probably stick applicator, if I had it.

My second choice would be a teflon lube, like "Super Lube" or TriFlow.

[Neil Brooks]

Okay. I dug in a little.

I'm just going to have to go ahead and disagree with myself (I know).

It seems Delrin is considered "self-lubricating:"


The coefficient of friction of Delrin® is equal, or less, than its coefficient of dynamic friction, thereby ensuring zero stick-slip. Delrin® is self-lubricating and is ideal for medium speed-light load applications. It is also ideally suited to linear applications. Delrin® is FDA approved for food and dairy applications. It is available with a Teflon additive (AF), giving it a lower coefficient of friction. AF performance has approximately twice the speed of the comparable Delrin®.

From HERE (http://www.spyraflo.com/products/delrin.php).

Doubt you'd hurt it, either way, but .... I would probably leave it clean and dry :)

[Dan Hintz]

Yeah, self-lubricating to a degree, but I would add in some Teflon spray to keep things clean and smooth.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the feedback, all. The owner's manual says to lube them regularly, at least once a year, but makes no mention of what type of lube to use. I've only done it maybe twice (using white Lubriplate) in the 25 years I've owned the machine, and I've run a lot of wood through it. The gears look fine, so that supports the argument that lube is unnecessary. But I think I'll clean them, as suggested, with a toothbrush and a little mineral spirits and let them dry. Tomorrow I'm going to see what lube options I find at a couple of stores, and then I'll apply a little and check them in a month or so. I think the biggest offense would be to add anything that collects dust and dirt, so something like Teflon spray makes a lot of sense. Thanks again for the input. Always appreciated.