Hi folks, and @Onefinity there was a pretty heated topic a few weeks ago about a “bad” X assembly. The user claimed it wasn’t right, and when Onefinity sent him a new one, he again said that one wasn’t right either. 1F refunded him for the machine, but the videos remain up on YouTube. I wanted to see if I could duplicate his “issue”. First try, one take and done. The more I have seen of his videos, the more I feel like there is more going on than meets the eye. Attached is my short video that will help people hear for themselves a more objective impression of what is going on. Spoiler it sounds normal to me. I have been around the CNC hobby for over 20 years, take that for what it’s worth, but if you have concerns please watch the video.
Correct. Its just the sound of recirulating bearings. Perfectly normal on the Gen 2 machines as they have much larger bearings, and larger ball bearings inside bearing channel.
I’m pretty sure the needed free movement of these bearings is the rational behind using low viscosity lubricant rather than packing with grease. That would especially be true were they to be used in metal working environments.
@Onefinity …The oil that was in my machine pack says NOT for ball nuts. What are we supposed to use on the ball nuts? I’m assuming some sort of NGL2 grease?
Sounds crazy, but have only been able to run the laser so far. The only time I usually get is at night and I have to be somewhat quiet. Haven’t been able to cut slats for the spoil board yet. Did a little raster burn last night. Turned out ok but still very fun! Its only about 2" x 3" on scrap 2x4.
To answer my own question. I emailed @OnefinityCNC and they sent me a link to the grease they recommend for the ball nuts and ball screws. For the linear bearings and shafts they want 3 in 1 but the ball nuts they want:
I am not sure where that is in the documentation. I could not find it anywhere.
I didn’t ask but I don’t believe there are any zirk fittings for the ball nut. If you feel your current ball screw with you bare finger you can feel a light film of grease on there. A clean rag and a light coat on the ball screw is all you really want. If you are OSHA adverse like me it will probably get put on running the rag behind the ball nut while exercising the machine. The ball screws don’t need to be sopping with grease, the ball nut will pick up what it needs from the ball screw. I will probably use what they recommend because certain grease formulas won’t play nice together and I’m not smart enough to figure out what is compatible with what and why. I am surprised there isn’t more info on this.
