Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Automatic lubricator question

washcomp wrote:

>I am about to attach a Bijur automatic lubricator to the CNC
>Bridgeport I've been working on. Unfortunately, (like everything
>else in this project) there is no documentation on how to use it. Is
>it supposed to be on whenever the BP is running or just a squirt at
>the start? Any idea what the approprite setting for the amount of
>lubrication per sqirt and how often it squirts? Is this primarily
>for the ways, or are there other points it should be attached to as
>well? Is high temperature gear oil the right stuff?
>

Use ISO VG 68 way oil. it is designed to stick to the surfaces, and that
feature definitely works, it really does remain on surfaces longer than
plain oils. If the lube pump does not have a timer, you may need to
put a timer on it to keep it from dousing the machine with oil.
If it does have a timer, or the rate is slow enough when running full time,
you might wire it up to the spindle relay, so it runs when the spindle
is on.
You might also have a manual switch to lube the machine for 5 minutes or so
at power up while you are setting up the work.

The conventional setup is to have it lube the knee vertical way, the
Y and X axis slides, and the X and Y nuts. I'm not sure way oil is ideal
for ballscrews, so i manually apply grease there.

There should be metering orifices somewhere in the system (often on
a manifold inside the saddle) to portion out the oil to the various
locations on a manual lube system. They use different "control units"
with the automatic lube pumps. See the Trico or Bijur web pages for
some info on these units.

If this is an old system, the metering orifices/control units often get
plugged up, nobody notices, and the machine is badly damaged. So,
check the flow to the ways, and if inadequate, replace the orifices.
(I tried cleaning mine, with no luck at all.)

Jon