Do You Lube Rack and Piñon Gears?

[mark gaylo]

I have an Avid CNC and was wondering if you are suppose to lube the rack and pinion tracks? I haven’t found much maintenance info for Avid except lubing the linear rail blocks and one video on lubing the Z-axis. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Gary Campbell]

Rub a block of grocery store paraffin on the rack and let the spur gear work it in and around.

[mark gaylo]

Thanks for the advice Gary. I appreciate it.

[Michael Schuch]

I do similar with Johnsons paste wax. Either should work well and doesn't usually attract too much dust like a petroleum based oil / grease does.

[Jeff Roltgen]

Rub a block of grocery store paraffin on the rack and let the spur gear work it in and around.

Very interesting. I've always done what Shopbot recommends - a dollop of grease every 3 inches, let pinion gear work it in. Heck of a mess, and I cannot count how many shirts of mine and shop visitors end up with a rack imprint across the belly for leaning against the rails. I'd have a lot of cleaning to do to switch to wax, so I guess it is what it is...

jeff

[Bruce Page]

I’ve been using paraffin for several years. I was a little skeptical at first but it seems to work great.

[David Buchhauser]

Rub a block of grocery store paraffin on the rack and let the spur gear work it in and around.

Gary - do you think the paraffin would work well for the same sort of rack and pinion setup, but on a cnc plasma table? My Plasmacam table uses a rack and pinion setup very similar to those on my Avid Pro4848 that I use for wood routing.
Thanks,
David

[Gary Campbell]

Gary - do you think the paraffin would work well for the same sort of rack and pinion setup, but on a cnc plasma table? My Plasmacam table uses a rack and pinion setup very similar to those on my Avid Pro4848 that I use for wood routing.
Thanks,
David

Why not? Same R & P as a router table and less loads

[David Buchhauser]

Why not? Same R & P as a router table and less loads

Gary - That's what I was thinking also. I was just wondering about plasma dust vs. wood dust. Up until this point, I had been using a dry graphite spray. But it can make a mess when applied. I think I will try the paraffin the next time.
Thanks,
David