Shapeoko 5 pro ball screw maintenance

[jinksy (Michael Jenkins)]

Folks, I’m still confused about lubrication for the ball screws and linear blocks. It appears that my machine was shipped with grease on the ball screw blocks. My maintenance kit that came with the machine included oil but no grease. I have used the oil for the linear blocks with no issues. I have not done anything with the ball screws because grease is still present on the blocks and I realize that to change them to oil would require detailed cleaning.

So, I’m guessing, oil for the linear blocks and grease for the ball screws? And if that is correct, what type of grease is used?

Thanks for any clarification.

[1996jayhawk (Brad Hart)]

Some good info/links here:

5Pro Lube Advice

Got all the bearing assemblies lubed as shown in several places on the web and here. However hit a wall when finding specifics about what to do with the screw drives. Besides putting grease on the screws that move the gantry and HDZ, is there anything else I should be doing? I have noticed it is starting to make a high pitched noise when going corner to corner that did not occur when I got it a year ago. Not sure if that’s a lube issue or just how it sounds. No issues with cut accurac…

[jinksy (Michael Jenkins)]

Today I took a closer look at the ball screws - x,y, and z. They all have grease on the ball nuts and it looks like they are made so you can repack the grease so it is constantly being applied with axis travel. See Picture.

My question is do you add oil to a greased ball screw like the Carbide CNC Machine Maintenance instructs? If not, then what grease do you use and what is the procedure for repacking the ball nut.

[1996jayhawk (Brad Hart)]

As far as the ball screw/nut goes, I’ve wiped the ball screw down a couple of times with oil in the last 3 years or so of moderate use, mainly to ensure I don’t get rust. I’ve never done the exercise described in the maintenance instructions for oiling the ball nut. I’ve really just focused on keeping things clean and that has worked well so far.

[jinksy (Michael Jenkins)]

I contacted Carbide support and Josh said the following:

Hey Michael,

I would say just use the vectra oil as it is more than sufficient for the job. Oil up behind and in front of the nut and run the machine forward and backward to spread the oil.

Warm Regards,
Josh

Then I asked, "Is it a problem mixing oil and grease? "

Hey Michael,

There shouldn’t be an issue. After time passes and the grease becomes less we then move to oil for the ball screws. It just requires more maintenance compared to the grease which is closer to a set and forget for a while thing vs oiling every couple of months.

Warm Regards,
Josh

My take away:

I use my machine a few hours daily. While grease is on the ball nut I’m not going to worry about it. As soon as it starts thinning I will start using oil. It appears that adding oil to the screw every couple months is the goal for its maintenance.