My Shapeoko pro X axis linear bearings had gotten really rough, twice causing the router to crash into a project. I made a 6-minute video of the disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly of the bearings at Shapeoko Pro X-axis linear bearings on Vimeo. (My videos are under a pseudonym, Robert Junk, for privacy.)
If TL;DR:
It’s not difficult to dissassemble and reassemble the X axis bearings, but it does take time (for me, about 1.5 hours per rail).
The center hole on each end of a bearing is indeed a lube port (at least on my version of the bearings, purchased at the end of 2021), and leads oil to the bearing turnaround tunnels. However, I think the best way to lube the upper bearing race of each bearing is to put a couple drops of oil on the top of the bearing rail and jog the carriage through that.
Don’t give sawdust a home on your rails. Use dust collection or blocking at all times, as much as possible.
Thanks Will, and I did find (and read) that doc before deciding to disassemble the bearings. What the doc didn’t tell me is how the bearings work (an exploded pic would be helpful), and what to do if they’re seizing and crashing the machine (I did try contacting Support). Further, I got conflicting information from various sources about putting oil in the holes of the X and Y bearings. So the intent of the video was to share what I found out.
While I’m sure support would have nightmares about folks disassembling their linear bearings, I really enjoyed the video, if only out of sheer curiosity. And I totally agree with the takeaway: good dust collection, and occasional lubrication with Vactra #2, goes a long way to never ever have to disassemble the bearings in the first place
Keeping the inside of the linear rail blocks oiled is key, the major vendors such as Hiwin are very clear about this. If they go dry then three bad things can happen
The seals on the end of the block can start to grab on the rail, this could cause missed steps and can definitely end up damaging the seals so that they no longer work (Hiwin sell the seals as a service part)
The seals rely on being oiled to effectively wipe the rails, if there’s insufficient oil to keep the seal and rail oiled then the seals start to let dust and crud inside the bearing
The rails can start to rust on the bearing contact paths where any anti-corrosive coating is inevitably worn off by the rolling contact
What would be an another option to Vectra #2. It’s possible to buy only one gallon there. I really don’t need to keep one gallon of the oil in my sheed.
I found an eBay seller doing smaller bottles of Mobil Vactra 2 but I believe any oil that meets the same ISO standard as the Vactra 2 should be suitable.
Please note that we have had at least one report of using WD-40 for lubrication causing problems — please check in with support if using the correct lubricant isn’t an option.
