Squeaking Gantry on the PlasmaCam

I was using the plasmacam this morning and while jogging the torch to the front, it had a fairly noticeable squeak happening in the left gantry arm. Is it reasonable to squirt some WD40 or Lithium grease or dry lube or?, on the track? Or does it need a disassembly, clean and re-grease?

@Team_Metal_Shop

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This is covered under chapter 8 of the factory manual. I have not ever found chapter 8 of the factory manual, so I donā€™t know what the factory recommends.
Howeverā€¦
These guys seem to think blowing the bearings out occasionally and spritzing with some petroleum isnā€™t the worst thing you can doā€¦
http://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?t=14766
Personally, Iā€™d like to put new bearings in, and THEN try to make sure we have a maintenance routine, once we know more about whatā€™s actually in there.
In the meantime, WD40 is cheap and plentiful, but I worry a little about its flammability. If it were my equipment, Iā€™d try silicon lube first, then petroleum products, probably teflon enhanced (Iā€™m a sucker for teflon).
But ultimately, up to Chuckā€¦

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Itā€™s one of those ā€œnails on the chalkboardā€ squeaks that almost makes me want to run away or spray something on it! I almost sprayed on dry lube, but decided I would wait to check.

I actually did blow out the gantryā€¦didnā€™t help.

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Yup. WD40 is sticky once it dries. I feel sorry for anyone trying to use it as a lubricant, and wondering why their whatever is so stiff next time.

WD40 says it is.

Well, technically, they say ā€œā€¦special blend of lubricantsā€¦ā€

(Iā€™m not arguing you should probably find something better, as that agrees with what I said, but I like being ornery, and the manufacturer DOES claimā€¦well, see above.)

Who believes ā€œindependent 3rd partiesā€ over manufacturers?
(I donā€™t actually know who the author of this article (Noria Corporation) is, and the author(s) and/or company they work for, may very well be non-independent, but itā€™s not immediately apparent, and I donā€™t consider it worth my while to figure it out for this joke).

Come on !!! We donā€™t lovingly call you the ā€˜Honey Baggerā€™ for nothing. :wink:

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Dry lube onlyā€¦ There is a spot in the book that says what to use, I want to say graphite but cant say definitely.

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A manufacturer has the primary motivation of selling more productā€¦

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We have ā€œthe bookā€? :blankspace:

A squirt of lithium would do it.

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Here is the picture of what the book says

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Do we have that book in electronic form?
If not, may I take the hardcopy and scan it? Itā€™s in OK shape for the moment, but going downhill quicklyā€¦
@dallasmagna

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Iā€™d say that it would be a great idea to scan it before it is too bad of shape to do so.

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I have access to a copier at work that does double-sided scanning and it will output a PDF file. It makes short work of this kind of stuff and beats manual scanning. :slight_smile:

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Our copier at DMS does all of that btw

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Yep. I was thinking Iā€™d borrow the book so I can use the scanners I have here (that I know how to use, which I believe scan double sided), but then it hit me: nowā€™s the time to learn to use the Samsung. Surely it does that. Iā€™m 99% sure Iā€™ve noticed the ADF on it, so it should make short work of this, without having to leave the premises with the book.
Havenā€™t done it yet (because this thought just struck me this morning). Thinking about trying to next time I have a few minutes to spend @ DMSā€¦
If someone else beats me to it please let me know.

Bringing a flash drive is the simplest way to scan with the Samsung we have. Infrastructure hasnā€™t connected the network to the printer yet

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Agree.

Confused by this. I know the ā€œcopierā€ has been capable of printing. Did it get removed at some point?

Sorry I guess I mean the reverse way. You can print from a computer to the printer, but you cannot scan from the printer to your computer (or the network shares). You cannot scan to email either.

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