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Best Spindle Grease

Don Davis 87

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Location
Houston, TX
Hi I have a 2006 Fadal 3016 and would like to ask what is generally considered the best grease to use on the lower two bearings, the top bearing is sealed and lubed for life but the bottom two are open, I cleaned them and now I'd like to reapply the best grease I can so it last for a while. Thanks, Don
 
Kluber Isoflex is the only grease you want for spindle bearings. I looked into doing bearings myself and had some some notes here of using KLUBER NBU-15, Front bearings 2.6g, Rear bearings 3.0g. They dont take much grease. Add too much and it will make too much heat.

These are just some notes I had so take it for what its worth, may not be right at all. I didnt actually rebuild the spindle after. Its still hanging in there. Actually sounds way better then it did a year ago.
 
Personally, if I was rebuilding a spindle I wouldn't be reusing the old bearings. I'd be buying new ones. Going thru that much trouble to get to the bearings just to reuse them again is in my opinion false economy. You must have taken the spindle apart because of noise or other problems. That noise and/or other problem(s) will most likely not be cured by a clean job and new grease. And when it comes to spindle bearings, cleanliness takes on the strictest sense of the word, which is difficult to meet.

Just my two cents worth.

Try to find yourself a syringe (I get them at the local surplus store) so you can accurately meter out the proper amount of grease into each bearing. The manufacturers literature will say how much is needed. The syringes small nozzle and the ability to meter are both in your favor.
 
Hopefully this thread is an okay place to raise a related question. My BP clone has open, oil-lubricated spindle bearings. It seems fine but if converting to grease lube, would I simply pack some grease in, or would one generally add a seal of some sort? It seems like the spindle design wouldn’t readily accommodate a separate seal, making sealed bearings the right choice. But then how does one pack the bearing with grease?
 
Personally, if I was rebuilding a spindle I wouldn't be reusing the old bearings. I'd be buying new ones. Going thru that much trouble to get to the bearings just to reuse them again is in my opinion false economy. You must have taken the spindle apart because of noise or other problems. That noise and/or other problem(s) will most likely not be cured by a clean job and new grease. And when it comes to spindle bearings, cleanliness takes on the strictest sense of the word, which is difficult to meet.

Just my two cents worth.

Try to find yourself a syringe (I get them at the local surplus store) so you can accurately meter out the proper amount of grease into each bearing. The manufacturers literature will say how much is needed. The syringes small nozzle and the ability to meter are both in your favor.

I agree. Theres like a 95% chance if your taking it apart, its completely toast and new grease will do next to nothing.

But there are always exceptions. I have an old Mazak lathe that had perfect bearings and suddenly started making terrible noise in the spindle bearings while running real easy job. I stopped it right away, pulled it apart and one of the bearings was rough, must have got a chip or some kind of dirt in it. Cleaned it up and oiled it and seemed smooth on the bench so thought it was worth a shot. Did a real good cleaning then and repacked with isoflex and put it all back together and its been working fine for over a year now. Smooth as ever.
 
I'd change the bearings, on the other hand if they feel good, and not notchy, maybe it's worth the risk of putting them back in. You'll know either from the finish you get, or the racket at 10k rpm whether you made the right choice.

There's a pre-load procedure in the fadal manuals you'll need to follow when setting bearing preload.

Fadal manuals are free and online at Fadalcnc.com I assume you probably all ready know that.
 
I have also used the Iso-flex grease and in their instructions it says to use 20% pack. No more or it will get hot. I saw a good show on You Tube where the tech used a syringe and counted the bearings and filled between the bearing space to get the 20%. Before using the Iso-flex I had good luck using Mobil # 32 red horse aviation grease with 30% pack. I see Iso-flex can be bought in a syringe on some sites.
 
Ski-doo in the 90’s used iso-flex spindle grease in the pto bearing side on their rotax engines. They wanted them repacked every 2000 miles if you didn’t do it you got to buy a crank in time. Everyone cried about the 50.00 mini tube of grease but it worked


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