Best lube for trunnions?

[Rennie Heuer]

What's a good lube to use on my TS trunnion?

 

[Tom Niemi]

Great question, waiting for great answer since I clearly don't have one

 

[Darren Wright]

I've always used a 3-1 oil myself.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

I've always used a 3-1 oil myself.

No problem with sawdust building up with the oil on the gears?

 

[glenn bradley]

I use inexpensive dry Teflon spray. Been working for me since the new millennium. I use it on my router lift rods as well. One nice thing is when I do semi-annual clean up a bit of compressed air blow any lingering particles right off prior to the next application.

 

[Don Baer]

This is timely since I am looking at how to lubricate the rack and pinion on the CNC right now...

 

[Darren Wright]

No problem with sawdust building up with the oil on the gears?

It does, but brush it off from time to time.

 

[Darren Wright]

I use inexpensive dry Teflon spray. Been working for me since the new millennium. I use it on my router lift rods as well. One nice thing is when I do semi-annual clean up a bit of compressed air blow any lingering particles right off prior to the next application.

Maybe I should move to the millennium.

 

[Charles Lent]

I use Johnson's Paste Wax, applied with an old tooth brush. It surface dries making sawdust not stick to it easily. I use it for both the gears and trunions. For the shaft bearings I use a teflon lube.

Charley

 

[larry merlau]

have used a dry gravite lub on the router lift and wax on the trunion but darrens idea of dry silcon is good

 

[larry merlau]

tried glenns link and its no longer availble around here..

 

[glenn bradley]

Sorry about that guys.

 

[Charles Lent]

Anything containing silicone in any form is BANNED FROM MY SHOP. If any gets on your wood you will never get any kind of finish to stick. Fish Eyes everywhere.

 

[larry merlau]

ques it was Teflon Charles, and zinser seal coat will seal over the sitcom trouble

 

[glenn bradley]

I also keep CRC 3-36 on hand. It is a little messier to apply so can be my second choice for hard to get to areas; overspray occurs.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Paste wax, CRC-36 or similar dry spray, graphite, White Lithium grease are all imho reasonable choices.

I generally avoid teflon out of an abundance of paranoia, but if you're careful about avoiding cross-contamination it's a great lubricant.

The other issue I have with 3 in 1 is that it's a light oil so I like it for more detailed things, but for something like a trunnion I'd like something with a smidge more stiction to keep the lubrication where I want it lubricating.

I was all in on the paste-wax for a long time, but the CRC-36 stuff has some nice corrosion inhibitors in the formula and has similar albeit a smidge less slick characteristics to the wax. So for things that I don't want to get into very often or where I'm more worried about corrosion I've moved more to it. A little goes quite a ways. Other folks have similar opinions about things like ballistol and while I argree that that is good stuff, I think it's a bit goopy for this application.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

This looks promising, and it is inexpensive.

Amazon.com

 

[Charles Lent]

In my opinion, too thin for Trunions and big cast gears.

Charley

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Picked this up at the local Menards a month or two ago and started using it on anything that needed dry lube. Pretty impressive stuff! The trunnions and lift in the TS are still smooth and easy, my router lift is working better than it has in years and the planer lift is smooth and effortless as well. Time will tell, but so far it is working very well and costs under $6.

 

[Darren Wright]

Works great for squeaky desk chairs too.