What do you lubricate your sliding table saw ways with?

[Stewart Lang]

I have a slider and do regular maintenance on the ways every week or two. I usually spray a light coating of Jojoba oil on the ways for lubrication, which seems to work pretty well. Just wondering what everyone else is using? Anyone use a dry lubricant like spray teflon or graphite or something similar? Seems like with an oil, dust collects a little quicker.

[Mark e Kessler]

What brand saw? On My Felder xroll it's only wipe with a dry cloth if there is resin build up (shouldn't be any if all the wipers are in order) then you can use a resin remover other than that no oil/lubrication is required.

Mark


I have a slider and do regular maintenance on the ways every week or two. I usually spray a light coating of Jojoba oil on the ways for lubrication, which seems to work pretty well. Just wondering what everyone else is using? Anyone use a dry lubricant like spray teflon or graphite or something similar? Seems like with an oil, dust collects a little quicker.

[Steve Wurster]

What brand saw? On My Felder xroll it's only wipe with a dry cloth if there is resin build up (shouldn't be any if all the wipers are in order) then you can use a resin remover other than that no oil/lubrication is required.

Mark

The same is true for my Hammer K3; the manual just says to wipe clean and remove resin. No lubrication is required.

[Jim Becker]

Zero lubrication on my SCM/MM S315WS since I bought it in the mid-2000s. I blow out the dust occasionally. I'm not a heavy user, but I also seem to recall that nothing special is required.

[johnny means]

Never seen anyone lubing a slider.

[Mark e Kessler]

I believe the Martin saws (at least some of them) have a built in lube pad on the end of the slide that you manually charge

[Erik Loza]

The Italians specified an occasional wipe-down of the guideways with kerosene or diesel fuel in their manuals. Or at least they used to. I just got a TSB spec’ing an aerosol product called “Ballistol” for X-roll machines in high-use environments. You don’t spray the machine, just spray the rag and wipe the guideways down. My personal feeling is that it should be part of your routine maintenance protocol but obviously, the needs of a production shop will be different than a home shop. One thing I do suggest to folks is to make sure and cycle the slider lock-to-lock on a regular basis, to clear out those chunks of sawdust. This seems to be more of an issue with folks who only use the machines infrequently or who are doing most of their cutting with a partial stroke of the slider.

Erik

[Steve Jenkins]

The ways don’t need lubricant because bearings ride on them. All they need is to be kept clean.

[Jim Becker]

One thing I do suggest to folks is to make sure and cycle the slider lock-to-lock on a regular basis, to clear out those chunks of sawdust.

This is absolutely sage advice...especially when one most commonly uses the saw for crosscutting and ripping smaller things most of the time. "Stuff" can get gunked up because of dis-used of some of the machine's range of motion at the extents.

[Steve Wurster]

One thing I do suggest to folks is to make sure and cycle the slider lock-to-lock on a regular basis, to clear out those chunks of sawdust. This seems to be more of an issue with folks who only use the machines infrequently or who are doing most of their cutting with a partial stroke of the slider.
Erik

I completely agree with Erik's statement (and Jim's concurrence). I ran into this about 6 months ago when I noticed the slider was partly blocking my ability to change the blade on my saw. Most of my usage had been with partial strokes, contributing to the issue. Everything cleared up after a few minutes of fully pushing the slider back and forth.

[Rod Sheridan]

Felder sell a lubricant for the sliding table, in oil format. https://us.feldershop.com/en-US/en-US/en-US/Workshop/Cleaning-and-maintenance/Ballistol-Universal-Oil-500-ml-aluminium-can.html

Here's the addendum to the operators manual. 423283
I use #10 SAE on a cloth, just on the steel runners in the fixed portion of the sliding table..................Rod.

[Kevin Jenness]

I used to work in a shop that had an 80's era Martin T71. It had an oil reservoir in the table that let oil onto the ways through felt wipers. I believe the manual called for 30w oil. That table design has v-shaped ways with large balls, and Martin uses essentially the same carriage design today.I figure if Martin designs for regular oiling it can't be a bad idea. A slider is no better than its carriage and when the ways are shot it is rarely economical to rebuild. Probably not an issue for hobby use but worth considering.

[Mark e Kessler]

Interesting, meanwhile in the k700 manual it explicitly states something like “warning risk of material damage, do not grease or oil the guides”..


Felder sell a lubricant for the sliding table, in oil format. https://us.feldershop.com/en-US/en-US/en-US/Workshop/Cleaning-and-maintenance/Ballistol-Universal-Oil-500-ml-aluminium-can.html

I use #10 SAE on a cloth, just on the steel runners in the fixed portion of the sliding table..................Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

Interesting, meanwhile in the k700 manual it explicitly states something like “warning risk of material damage, do not grease or oil the guides”..

423282

Mark, that was then, this is now :D

Here's the addendum to the operators manual...........Rod.

[Mark e Kessler]

well I’ll be darned... whats the date on that? Of course they don’t put it on the sheet also assume it applies xroll only? Details details details...

My saw was delivered in Oct and the addendum was not included


423282

Mark, that was then, this is now :D

Here's the addendum to the operators manual...........Rod.

[Erik Loza]

Interesting, meanwhile in the k700 manual it explicitly states something like “warning risk of material damage, do not grease or oil the guides”..

I think the devil is in the fine print, Mark. Technically, “yes”, we don’t want to see greases (especially!) or oils but my understanding is that the Ballsitol stuff (haven’t used it yet, personally) is more of a cleaner/thin-film type thing that doesn’t leave any residue. Maybe like a high-end WD-40? Just thinking out loud.

Erik

[Erik Loza]

423282

Mark, that was then, this is now :D

Here's the addendum to the operators manual...........Rod.

Rod, do you work for Felder Canada? Just curious. That’s an internal document.

Erik

[Mark e Kessler]

I was thinking bioshield if anything


I think the devil is in the fine print, Mark. Technically, “yes”, we don’t want to see greases (especially!) or oils but my understanding is that the Ballsitol stuff (haven’t used it yet, personally) is more of a cleaner/thin-film type thing that doesn’t leave any residue. Maybe like a high-end WD-40? Just thinking out loud.

Erik

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes I do.

It’s an addendum to the owners manual and as you noticed we now carry the product...Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

I think it was late December...Rod

[Mike Kees]

Well I learned something new today,thanks Rod.

[Erik Loza]

So, I went back and looked over that TSB. It is specifically in reference to X-roll machines that have the remote start on the slider. Not Hammers or X-rolls with start switches only on the chassis. On the X-rolls with remote start, they use the table>bearings>guideways>base rail>chassis connection as the ground circuit. Apparently, there were some incidents where enough crud built up on the guideways that it was created a bad ground. To me, this is a function of inadequate dust extraction plus lack of regular maintenance but I've also been in enough pro shops to be completely un-surprised by anything. However, I've never had it happen to one of my customers and never even heard about it coming up as an issue among any of the US service techs. Personally, I think it's a good idea to wipe the guideways down anyhow, but there's your official explanation.

Erik

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes, I've been lubricating my Hammer for about 10 years, no issues, makes the table much nicer to use.

All X roll tables now get the lubrication at the factory, if you clean your table with a cleaning agent you may remove it......Rod.

[Mark e Kessler]

Now this is sounding more familiar, i have the xroll with the on/off on the end, I was told that there were a very few issues in the field in production shops using a lot of mdf where this occurred. I also faintly remember something like that the original design is not what is shipping to the US due to some sort of regulation/s in the US market so a modification had to be made and they are working on a solution if/even ever there is an issue.I have had no issues with the switch and as a matter of fact it is one of the only things that is working 100% on this saw at the moment.

I was also told not to use a blow gun at full force to remove dust from the rails, i think because it has the potential to force dust into the bearing cage.

One more thing - being an old time user of sliders in my 20’s (well I am 52 so not too old :)) I was not sold on adding the end of slide on/off switch all I can say is totally worth it, It’s not used often but when it is glad it’s there...

mkessler10@gmail.com


So, I went back and looked over that TSB. It is specifically in reference to X-roll machines that have the remote start on the slider. Not Hammers or X-rolls with start switches only on the chassis. On the X-rolls with remote start, they use the table>bearings>guideways>base rail>chassis connection as the ground circuit. Apparently, there were some incidents where enough crud built up on the guideways that it was created a bad ground. To me, this is a function of inadequate dust extraction plus lack of regular maintenance but I've also been in enough pro shops to be completely un-surprised by anything. However, I've never had it happen to one of my customers and never even heard about it coming up as an issue among any of the US service techs. Personally, I think it's a good idea to wipe the guideways down anyhow, but there's your official explanation.

Erik

[Stewart Lang]

Huh, interesting. Thanks for the feedback everyone. My slider is probably considered "subpar" compared to everyone else's here haha. I have a Grizzly G0623x short stroke. I do love it though, so I try to take care of it. The manual says to "wipe down the slide ways with a light machine oil", so I've just been spraying a light coat in the ways after each time I clean them out. Even if nobody else does it, I figure it can't hurt, and practical sense tells me to lubricate anything that slides, even just lightly.

Whether it benefits anything or not, at least I'll know I tried to take good care of it ha!