Shape OKO3 Maintenance

What is the best, easiest way to lube the bearings on an XL.
What type of oil should you use
Hopefully you don’t need to remove all the bearings.

The absolute simplest way may be to…not do it? :slight_smile:
I’ll be very interested in what others have to say about this, this topic never comes up on the forum so either it’s not necessary, or any lubricant will do. Personally I would not like to get oily residue on the V-rails, that would capture dust and make vacuuming more difficult/less efficient. V-wheels are rather swapped completely when worn out?

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The bearings are sealed and rated for much more demanding usage than our machines put them through — it shouldn’t be necessary to lubricate them. If something isn’t perfect about them, the easiest thing to do is to replace them.

There’s a bit on maintenance at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Operating_Checklist#Maintenance

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Oily lubricants attract sawdust which is obviously not good in this application. However, a dry teflon lube works really well. I use it on all my woodworking tools. WD40 also make a cheaper version.

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yeah sealed cartridge bearings should be good without user lubrication. they’re sealed up with a light bearing grease. you replace them if they sound dry or feel rough.

that said, you would have to have a serious accident/impact to the wheels to cause them grief and a lot of which would be soaked up by the v-wheels plastic first.

best thing to do is keep the v-wheels and the track they ride on clean. brush it all off between jobs and check that everything is nice and tight (eccentrics/belts/etc)

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