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Lubrication is critical, but it can be a complicated business. Every piece of equipment with moving parts needs to be lubricated, yet with so many factors to consider, it can quickly become overwhelming. How often should a machine be lubricated? What job does the equipment perform? Is the environment wet or dry, hot or cold, clean or dirty? How fast does the equipment move? Is it involved in food processing?  All these questions and more must be answered before the correct lubricant can be selected.

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This article is intended to help clarify some of the key questions about lubrication so you can make the right lubricant choice, not just the cheapest or quickest one. Even if this decision has already been made for you, the information below will be helpful for your general understanding of how lubricants work.

1. Function: What Does the Lubricant Do?

Lubricants have a wide range of functions that include controlling the following:

• Friction (lubricants reduce heat generation and energy consumption)
• Wear (lubricants can reduce mechanical and corrosive wear)
• Corrosion (quality lubricants protect surfaces from corrosive substances)
• Contamination (lubricants transport particles and other contaminants to filters and separators)
• Temperature (lubricants can absorb and transfer heat)

Sometimes, in the case of hydraulics, lubricants also provide power transmission. 

What all this means is that you need to know what unique challenges your application poses and then choose your lubricant accordingly. For example, high pressure, low temperature and exposure to saltwater are just a few possibilities. Select lubricants that are clearly labeled to indicate how they are designed to perform and under what circumstances.

2. Ingredients: What’s in the Lubricant?

You may not think of lubricants as having many ingredients, but in fact there are lots of different additions to the base oil. These ingredients are deliberately chosen based on how the lubricant will be used. This is true of greases as well as oils. Many people are unaware that greases are actually oils with thickeners added. The type of thickener matters a great deal. The thickener typically is composed of fibrous particles that act like a sponge, holding the oil in place to give it a more viscous quality. Each thickener type confers different advantages and disadvantages, specifically having to do with shear stability, pumpability, heat resistance and water resistance.

3. Terminology: What Do These Things Mean?

To make correct lubrication choices, you must have an understanding of the terminology involved. Commonly used terms include the following:

• Viscosity — This describes how thick or resistant to flow the oil or grease is. Higher viscosity means higher flow resistance.
• Kinematic viscosity — A simple pour test can be used to offer a visual illustration of viscosity. Lube technicians can provide a demonstration of kinematic viscosity on the shop floor, because it’s easy to do and takes very little time.
• Weight — This also relates to how viscous an oil is or how easily it flows at a specific temperature.
• NLGI consistency — The consistency indicates how hard or soft a grease is. The numbers range from 000 (like cooking oil) to 6 (like cheddar cheese).
• Runout — This term refers to the ability of a grease or oil to resist higher temperatures, which tend to make lubricants less viscous.
• Shear stability — This is the resistance of an oil to a change in viscosity caused by mechanical stress.
• Metal on metal — A condition that every equipment owner should avoid like the plague, this describes a situation in which no lubricant is left in a bearing or other application.

4. Ease of Use

Not all oils are applied the same way. The method of application will depend on your particular equipment. For some situations, such as an easy-to-reach hinge, an aerosol lubricant may suffice. A grease may be easily applied by hand to an accessible gearbox. However, for hard-to-reach locations, an automatic dispenser that only needs to be refilled every six months can be a great option. For chains that require regular lubing, a continuous dispenser might be best. If you are purchasing lubricants from a reputable vendor, consult with one of their specialists to determine what method will be most beneficial.

5. Longevity

Lubricants have an optimal lifespan, and once it’s over, they need to be replaced. Failure to do so can result in runout, metal-on-metal contact, destroyed bearings and other issues leading to downtime and higher expenses. The problem is that it’s not always obvious when this is about to occur.

One important way to track a lubricant’s lifespan is by monitoring the operating temperature of your equipment. Excess heat destroys lubricants. Every rise in temperature of 10 degrees C (18 degrees F) above 65 degrees C (150 degrees F) will cut the lubricant’s service life in half. This means a lubricant that would normally last one month at 150 degrees F will last only two weeks at 168 degrees F, one week at 186 degrees F, and just three or four days at 204 degrees F before needing to be replaced or rejuvenated. After that, it will cease to do its job, essentially offering little or no protection even if lubricant levels appear high.

Heat tracking is best done with digital calibration tools, which can offer thermal imaging as well as vibration analysis. It’s also recommended to monitor your lubrication intervals. Some digital systems make this simple, but at smaller companies where records are still kept by hand, it’s all too easy to let this slip. Don’t make that mistake. At least one person on your staff should be in charge of overseeing lubrication, including making sure that accurate records are being kept.

Finally, if you’re not familiar with the concept of predictive maintenance (PdM), it’s highly recommended that you take a few minutes to research it. This trend in maintenance scheduling is proving to be highly effective at saving companies money while keeping equipment functioning at optimum levels.

6. Cost

As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. A food-processing plant may opt to use mineral oil on transport chains because it’s cheap and food-safe. However, plain mineral oil has a number of disadvantages that outweigh the low cost. For instance, this particular oil may have poor runout characteristics, attract contaminants to form an abrasive paste or drip to create an unsafe working environment. Managers who choose this option will soon discover that their savings are wiped out by the cost of downtime resulting from using inferior-quality lubricants, not to mention the potential of workplace accidents.

To calculate the real cost of a lubricant, don’t just look at the price tag on the container. Take that number and compare it to the cost of downtime or replacement, loss of product due to halted production or contamination, employee hours, and other factors that may be an issue for your company. If you just spent $2 million on a new production line, paying a few hundred dollars a month for a high-quality lubricant should seem like a no-brainer if it means the machine will function better and its lifespan will be increased.

In conclusion, while all production facilities depend on lubricants to continue operating, remember that not all lubricants are created equal. It can be a serious mistake to simply purchase a cheap lubricant without considering the factors mentioned above. Breakdowns are expensive and can have a snowball effect. Smart businesses spend as much time thinking about lubrication as they do about the types of equipment they purchase.

About the Author

Earlier, general-purpose lubricants used to be enough to meet the lubricating needs of a given application. In the past, a person’s experience and expertise were the primary factors in choosing a lubricant.

But due to the surging demand for modern industrial settings to run quicker, longer, and harder, this strategy is no longer practical. Today, extreme criteria tailored to each use case are what modern lubricants must meet.

This article’s objective is to address some of the most often discussed considerations about lubrication selection so that you may pick the best lubricant for your needs rather than blindly opting for the inexpensive or quickest option.

Top 5 Vital Factors to Consider While Selecting the Ideal Lubricant

1. Functions of the Lubricant

Lubricants serve a variety of purposes, including but not limited to-

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• Friction- They minimize heat buildup and energy utilization.
• Corrosion- They protect surfaces against corrosive elements.
• Wear- They minimize corrosive and mechanical wear.
• Temperature regulation- They can soak and transfer excessive heat. 
• Contamination- They transmit particulates and other impurities to separators and filters.

It implies that the lubricant you select will depend on the specific demands of your application. So, select lubricants that have informative labels detailing their intended uses and conditions.

2. Practicality And Ease of Operation

There is no one standard method for using lubricants. How you apply it will be determined by the equipment. For instance, an aerosol lubricant might be all that’s needed for an easily accessible hinge. If the gearbox is easily accessible, you can apply grease to it manually. 

A manual dispenser that needs to be restocked every month isn’t practical for places that are difficult to access, while an automatic one does it just once every six months. A continuous dispenser could be the ideal option for chains that need to be lubed frequently. Refer to an expert you plan to buy lubricants from for advice on the best way to go about it.

3. The Composition of the Lubricant

Even though the base oil in lubricants may seem simple, a wide variety of additives can be incorporated into the lubricant. The intended function of the lubricant informs the selection of these specific ingredients.

It applies to oils and greases alike. Simply put, greases are oils to which thickeners have been added. 

But the choice of thickener is crucial. Generally, the thickener comprises fibrous particles that serve like sponges, trapping the oil and increasing its viscosity.

Each thickener has unique benefits and drawbacks, particularly in heat resistance, ease of pumping, shear stability, and water resistance.

4. The Lifespan of the Lubricant

Lubricants exhibit an ideal lifespan, but once that time’s up, you should replenish them with new ones.

If you don’t do it, you could end up with runout, metal-on-metal traction, ruined bearings, and other problems resulting in outages and increased expenses in the form of repair, maintenance, and replacement.

The primary concern is that you can’t always figure out when the service life is about to end.

Tracking the temperature at which your CNC machine operates is essential in keeping note of the remaining life of a lubricant. Excessive heat buildup degrades them as the lubricant’s service life will be lowered in half for every increase in temperature of 10 °C above 65 ℃.

The most accurate method for tracking heat is to employ digital calibration instruments with thermal imaging and vibrational analysis capabilities. It is also recommended that you keep track of the intervals between lubrication.

5. Cost Considerations

Most companies still only consider the upfront price of lubricants, even if there are other, more indirect costs associated with using an inefficient product. They frequently make purchases without thinking about how the product will affect the company in the long run, opting instead to focus on the price tag.

If you want to know how much lubricant costs, checking the price isn’t enough. The choice of lubricant also influences the total cost of equipment maintenance.

Proactive operators recognize that choosing the proper hydraulic fluid, as opposed to the cheaper or the best recognized, is a worthy task that will bring quality to their operations, despite the fluid’s relatively small cost compared to the machine itself.

After factoring in the price of lubrication and the cost of maintaining the equipment, the most significant expense is the money lost by the company due to unscheduled equipment downtime. Due to its propensity to place a heavy load on operations without any or little warning, it should also be considered when selecting a suitable lubricant.

Content Takeaways

Remember that not every lubricant is the same, even though they are necessary for the continuous functioning of all manufacturing facilities.

Simply purchasing an inexpensive lubricant without considering the abovementioned factors can be disastrous. In addition to being quite costly, breakdowns can quickly escalate in cost. Hence, smart companies put as much thought into lubrication as they do into the types of machinery they procure.

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