Questions about slider maintenance

[Bobby Robbinett]

I have an older Griggio sc3200b which is my first slider. I am trying to figure out if I need to lube the ways on the sliding carriage. They appear to be hardened rubber of some sort. There are ways on the base then ways on the bottom of the sliding table with rollers in between if that makes sense. What would you guys suggest that I lube them with, if anything at all?

[Greg Quenneville]

I wouldn’t. Any lube is going to retain sawdust and you end up with a rumbling action on the slider. I understand the impulse to lube, but the duty cycle and load is really low and the slider can happily run dry.

I asked this question of the dealer when I bought my first Felder. He told me if I wanted I could use some uber pricey oil, but to make sure that wiped all of it off. I took his point, ran the machine dry without any issues. A friend does the same on his Martin.

[Kevin Jenness]

I wouldn't lube a roller system like the one you describe unless the mfr recommended it. You might be able to find a manual for the old style Altendorf saws with phenolic ways to see what they recommended.

A v-way system with ball bearings is a different story. The Martin T71 I used to work with had an oil reservoir in the table that automatically lubed the ways. I periodically wipe a light coat of Ballistol on the ways of my Paoloni and they don't get crudded up. The carriage is the heart of the saw so whatever keeps it going is worth the effort.

My friend bought a Martin T75 that had serious wear grooves on the ways. Some oil did it as much good as for the the Tin Woodsman.

[Richard Coers]

On the Griggio I owned in the past, the ways were made from Micarta (linen and resin) and pop riveted to the saw. Lubrication would not eliminate wear even if you did apply something. I never lubed mine. The only issue I ever had was it spun a bearing on the motor and had to have it rebuilt. They built up the shaft with a thermal spray method and it went for years longer. Sold it when I closed my business.

[Patrick Kane]

Yeah, I’d say it depends on the machine. Several manufacturers do recommend a light weight motor oil for the ways. I know the newer Martin’s of the last 20 years have a sponge or something that you preload with oil and it rubs the ways as you use the machine. The same is recommended for my ancient T75. However, those designs are steel on steel. Not sure if oil would help reduce the wear of your phenolic or other material ways.

I haven’t done a dang thing on my Felder xroll. I vacuum the ways routinely and make sure it’s dust free, but I haven’t lubed the bed yet

[Erik Loza]

The Italians specifically recommended diesel fuel or kerosene as a cleaner/lube for the guideways. This would be for any ball-bearing system. Just quick wipe with a rag to leave a thin film. Not enough left to attract dust. The Austrians call out Ballistol for the X-roll tables. Not sure what the more complicated systems like Martin or Altendorf call for.

Erik

[Tom Bain]

The Italians specifically recommended diesel fuel or kerosene as a cleaner/lube for the guideways. This would be for any ball-bearing system. Just quick wipe with a rag to leave a thin film. Not enough left to attract dust. The Austrians call out Ballistol for the X-roll tables. Not sure what the more complicated systems like Martin or Altendorf call for.

Erik

Erik — That’s interesting, never heard of Ballistol. How often do you recommend doing that for the X-roll? I’m guessing pretty infrequently in hobby-ist environment?

[Erik Loza]

Erik — That’s interesting, never heard of Ballistol. How often do you recommend doing that for the X-roll? I’m guessing pretty infrequently in hobby-ist environment?

Tom: https://ballistol.com/

You can get it on Amazon. For hobby shops, I would just wipe down as necessary. We actually got a TSB from the factory, suggesting Ballistol. No particular schedule, just "This is the stuff to use". Apparently, some X-roll owners with remote-start switches on the slider experienced issues where the switches were fussy. Turns out it was dirty bearing ways. Since Felder uses the metal guideways to complete the ground circuit for remote-start, there was enough crud accumulating on the guideways to produce a bad ground. I imagine that you could use WD-40 too but Ballistol is what they suggest.

Of course, the usual best practices for any slider:
-Never use compressed air to blow into the slider bearing areas.
-Good idea to slide the move the slider fully stop-to-stop, every so often. To clean out the crud boogers (like drawer glides).

I never understood why companies would knowingly design sliding table bearing systems that required wet lubrication or which had non-metallic bearing guideways on a wood-cutting machine. Seems like a giant dust magnet. By far, the machines I see in shops which still work the best are Italian sliders with ball-bearing guideways.

Erik