Lube-Tips
Wear Gloves When Packing Roller Bearings
When hand-packing roller bearings, wear disposable food-grade gloves. This has a two-fold effect. First, it helps keep your hands free from grease, but it also helps keep the bearing free from contaminants. Particles and chemicals on hands can lead to premature bearing failure. Consider placing freshly packed bearings back into their original wrapping to prevent contamination with outside particles.
Don't Rely on Color Alone
Color-coding can be an effective way of setting up a lubricant management program, but don't use color as the only designation for which lubricant goes into what equipment. A signifcant portion of the population has partial or total color blindness. In labeling lubricants, colors should be supplemented with either shapes or text
Avoid Recurring Water Contamination Problems
Large hydraulic reservoirs operating outdoors often develop a problem with recurring water contamination. Te problem often is related to the humidity in the air. When hydraulic systems operate, the oil heats up and expands. If the system is shut down at night, the oil will contract and fresh humid air from the outdoors will enter the reservoir through the breather. By morning, when the outside air temperature has cooled signifcantly, the humidity introduced into the reservoir usually has condensed into water droplets in the oil. To correct and avoid this, use water-removal fltration ofine to remove any free and dissolved water and add a desiccant type breather to flter moisture out of any air entering the reservoir.
Don't Overlook Barrier Fluids
One often overlooked lubricant is the barrier fluid used in double mechanical seals. Although it may be topped off when the level in the seal pot is low, how much thought goes into maintaining the high-quality lubricant needed for extended mechanical seal life? Seal faces are lapped to within two helium light bands of flatness and are every bit as precise of equipment as rolling element bearings. These lubricants are generally added to a seal pot and are expected to perform for the life of the seal. Conditions to consider include temperature, oxidation, coking of the lubricant, cleanliness, PM needs, scheduled changeout or sampling/testing, and possible justifcation for synthetics.
Did You Know?
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