I am trying to choose the oil for X Axis(guide rail) and Y axis(linear rods).
According to information from the Internet, Super Lube 52004 (without PTFE) or 51004 (with PTFE) should be suitable.
However, there is some debate about the choice of a specific oil, as one of them contains PTFE.
Someone says that it is necessary to use oil with PTFE. Someone says that PTFE oil should absolutely not be used.
Which oil should you choose in the end?
With PTFE (Super Lube 51004)? Or without PTFE (Super Lube 52004)?
both work fine, there would be no measurable difference on a normal 3d printer. people have been using ptfe oil and grease for many years and there’s 0 report of ptfe causing the issue. instead it’s usually misusing grease when grease is not applicable.
Super Lube 92003 is used for Z-axis Lead Screws and linear rods. Super Lube 92003 is not suitable for X Axis(guide rail) and Y axis(linear rods).
In the “Lubricant oil recommendation” section, the alternative to Bambu Lab Lubricant Oil is only “WD-40 Multi-Use Product”.
Alternatives from the Super Lube range are not listed.
I’d do one of two things and ignore “well I do X and I’ve never had a problem” facebook advice. Either use the manufacturer (Bambu Lab) recommended lubricant(s) or the rail manufacturer recommended lubricants. Neither one of those is going to contain PTFE.
Personally I find Bambu Lab lubricant advice to be sketchy as f___, both in their recommended product choices and how to apply it. The stuff I use is even less likely for you to be able to find and how to apply it so it actually works much more complicated than the Bambu procedure, so I’ll skip the details on both.
The real irony is that WD-40 isn’t primarily a lubricant. It does contain lubricating ingredients, but it sucks for long-term use.
WD-40, on the other hand, is a great cleaner. I wouldn’t hesitate to use WD-40 to clean any lubricated parts, and then follow that up with a purpose-made lube. I absolutely would NOT trust WD-40 to keep the H2’s linear rail carriage properly lubricated. The fast moving ball bearings inside the rail carriage would quickly dissipate the lubricant.
As for which specific product to use, I think it’s actually more important that the product is applied properly than which brand, etc. The best lube in the world is useless if not applied properly.
Looking only at the linear rail (X-axis) of the H2, I don’t see a grease nipple on the rail carriage. That means there’s no easy way to get grease inside the carriage. (The part that really needs lube isn’t the rail! It’s the little ball bearings inside the carriage that roll along the rail.) I won’t even suggest that the typical bambu user disassemble the rail to properly grease pack the carriage.
So, I’d fall back to using a thinner product (like an oil.) You can spread it along the rail (top and bottom) and then push the carriage back and forth to try and get the bearings inside to pick up the oil. Move the carriage the full length of the axis, and then wipe up any excess oil from the ends of the rail. Doing this with an oil (instead of a grease) will get more of the lubricant inside the carriage. (The grease would just get pushed to the edges.)
As far as which product to use, I don’t blame bambu for not recommending anything specific. Personally, I’d go with a sewing machine oil, or something without solid additives. (PTFE/Teflon is a solid additive.) That’s just my opinion.
Once again, the specific product used is less important than just using the product properly. A lubricant that’s not lubricating the correct parts is completely useless (and in some cases might be harmful!)
The WD-40 lubricant Bambu Lab suggests is a particular product in the brand family, it isn’t the stoddard solvent one in the blue/yellow can.
Unfortunately once linear rail bearings are greased you can’t convert it to oil just by adding oil, you’d need to strip all of the grease out of it.
I’ve got one here I’ve been meaning to take apart to verify the initial lubrication state of, haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Linear guideway bearing blocks are always lubricated internally. Always. Which lube specifically is nice to know…
I’d like to know what lube but to be perfectly honest I don’t actually care, because it’s probably going to last as long as the rest of the machine, and putting some lube on the guideway once a year is no biggie (typically, bearing blocks are lubed via a zerk on the end, but I doubt these tiny ones have that?)
You can buy them pre-lubricated, but as a rule (99%) since the manufacturer has no possible way of knowing which lubricant is correct for your application, small linear guides as used in 3d printers are unlubricated from the factory and must be lubricated before use.
So I have this stuff at my house already. 3-in-1 all temp silicone oil. -100°F - 500°F range, Multi-Surface “No messy residue". Would this be good to use on the x & y steel axis rods? Oh, P1S machine. Wouldn’t let me upload a pic.
I have a high quality 100% silicone oil used in the shock absorbers of RC vehicles. I wonder if I can use this on rails? Structurally it is very similar to Superlube.
I like the Super Lube 21030 better then the BL recommendation of Super Lube 92003 for the lead screws due to the much lighter and more appropriate base oil viscosity of 69 @40c. The BL recommendation of Super Lube 92003 has a base oil viscosity of 5,000 @25c which, other then being a unusual measurement temperature (normally measured at 100c or 40c) is extremely high/heavy.
The Lucas White Lithium Grease (10533) is a higher base oil viscosity a of 230 @40c but still not crazy high like the BL recommendation of Super Lube 92003. I would think the Lucas you suggest is fine for the application.
