Rotary Table Lube

I have 2 no name rotary tables that I want to clean up . what are you folks using for lube in your rotary tables ?
thanks
animal

Presuming there's oil in them now, some oil companies will analyse existing oil samples and give you feedback on viscosity and wear particles. Or you can just guess at the viscosity from what you "feel", just make sure you chose a lube that doesn't have additives that can attack copper alloys.

If there's substation watering of the oil from coolant ingress you might start thinking of rebuilds to change out bad seals/o-rings.

First, avoid any lubricant that doesn't specifically claim to be safe for copper and copper alloys.

Second, my experience with a number of rotary tables from a slightly smaller number of makers is that tables having their worm and wormwheel in a sealed cavity are usually lubed with a fluid lubricant intended specifically for worm gears. Rotary tables having their worm and wormwheel in an open cavity sometimes require a heavy oil, but other times, a grease is what the factory recommended.

For some reason, the recommended brand and type of lubricant is not only no longer available, but is, for all practical purposes, lost to history. As a real-life example, my employer bought a new 42 inch Knight rotary table in the mid 1980s. The maker, John Ramming Machine of St. Louis, recommended "two shots of Archer #2 [IIRC] grease without moly, every 8 hours of operation."

Of course, nobody on the west coast sold Archer lubricants, so John Ramming suggested Alvania #2 as an alternative . . . while casually mentioning that they had never used Alvania #2 at their plant.

About five years later, John Ramming called to tell us that they had tested #2 moly greases in their shop, and were now recommending moly grease for Knight rotary tables, and were comfortable recommending reducing the worm-to-wormwheel clearance with the moly grease.

Moly disulphide grease on the worm n wheel, and waylube on the mating faces.

Probably all wrong for the purists but it works for me.

I assume they are manual, right? I second limy's suggestion I would use whatever number 2 grease I have handy for the bearings and worm, pack the bearings good you will be the last person to see them.

I have used 50wt engine oil, no problems for 50 years...Phil

thanks folks .
animal

I'm with Limy. MoS2 grease on the gears, Vactra #2 for the rest. That's what I've been using on my Advance cross slide rotary, works great.

My RT has an oil reservoir. There was no type specified except "gear oil". I went to an auto store and purchased a quart of the gear oil which they had a display showing how it clung to the gear teeth. I filled it up with that and have had no problems. It has been about 12 years and I have not had to add any more yet.