what oil/grease for mill/drill

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I am about to reassemble my RF30/31 mill drill. What lube should I use on the table ways and spindle?
all suggestions appreciated
 
I am about to reassemble my RF30/31 mill drill. What lube should I use on the table ways and spindle?
all suggestions appreciated

I use SuperLube grease on the leadscrews and plain old hydraulic oil on the ways. Way oil is okay, too.
 
I don't have a round column mill/drill, I have a square column mill/drill. I use Vactra #2 way oil on the ways & the table leadscrews. Like Mike I'm a big fan of SuperLube also, not just for machine related use either. I use Super Lube for the head/column leadscrew as well as the quill rack. No ryhme or reason why I don't use grease on the table leadscrews yet I do for the head leadscrew. I've just been doing it that way, probably cause I'm lazy, squirt way oil on the table leadscrews while I'm oiling the ways.

As for the spindle, there's no simple way to relube the bearings without taking the spindle part apart, no? So did you mean the quill or did you actually mean the spindle bearings?

Any oil is better than no oil, you don't need fancy way oil if you can't get it. Use motor oil if you have to, it won't hurt it. Hydraulic oil should be easy to get most anywhere.
 
Oh I forgot, on round column mills, do you guys lube the column as well? On my RF45 style mill, I use Vactra #4 way oil on the column ways. I used to use Vactra #2 cause that's what I had & use on my lathe ways too. But I didn't like how it ran off the ways so fast being vertical. So eventually I got #4 which is thicker. Stays on the vertical ways mo better.
 
I just use a thin layer of hydraulic oil on the column and renew it from time to time. Works okay - no rust so far.
 
As for the spindle, there's no simple way to relube the bearings without taking the spindle part apart, no? So did you mean the quill or did you actually mean the spindle bearings?

Actually, part of the rebuild is replacing the spindle bearings with permanently sealed and lubed bearings. What I need are 'best practices' for lube on the table and cross slide ways, the quill, motor lift rack, and anything else that needs lube.

What I found in the various manuals (Enco, Grizzly, Shop Fox) range from way oil to 30W or 20W non-detergent motor oil. Just looking for ideas on what to do both when I reassemble and when in use.

Scott
 
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