How durable is my CNC?

Well after many weeks of struggling with Y-axis issues on my 6x12 CNC machine, I finally broke down and took the time to do some major maintenance.
I was putting off changing the bearings on the Y-axis of this machine for quite a while because, frankly, I was nervous about doing it! Well, I am happy to share that the process went pretty smoothly, and I also found some major issues, so in hindsight, I am very glad I finally did this!
I was not able to find an instructional video online for this process, hence the video. Hope that is helps anyone else out there about to tackle the same problem!
If you enjoy the video, please support us by liking and subscribing!
Cheers,
Matt

[@lophole7]

Matt I just finished building my 2nd DIY CNC Machine using Hiwin Linear rails similar to yours. I see you have the red caps covering the holes in the linear rails. From experience I'm telling you this ...... those caps CANNOT be sunk below the surface of the rail. They MUST be flush because dirt and debris gather on top of the cap and then when the bearing slides over top, it picks up the debris which in turn could cause the bearing to fail.

[@phredka12]

I'm really surprised that they survived so long. I don't see any system for constant lubrication them 😅. That kind of problems I have after 200 work hours without lubrication. Which is half of month

[@makethepart]

This is a great overview Matt, Thank You for sharing!

[@m2lumber]

You bet! Thanks for watching!

[@GENcELL2014]

On my ShopSabre I'm weekly cleaning rails and around bearing blocks, then adding new grease with a grease gun on bearing blocks grease zerks displacing old grease which is wiped up. Every 3-4 weeks wd40 is used to flush bearing blocks and by slowly moving Y and X it thins grease in bearing blocks which is wiped up, then more wd40 is added. That's repeated until I can tell a lot of grease is flushed out. At that point wd40 is wiped off and bearing blocks greased, moved, excess wiped then repeated until excess grease doesn't appear thinned by wd40. Over 3 years my bearings have kept in great shape by having a proactive cleaning regiment. I'd recommend doing something similar but I didn't see any grease zerks on those bearing blocks.

[@m2lumber]

Yeah, I think i def learned the hard way I need to do better with grease. My problem though has always been contamination, we flatten slabs mostly and has always been notorious for terrible dust collection due to the huge cutter and large chips. So keeping the rails “clean” would literally be a full time job lol… Hopefully better regular maintenance and improved Dust collection will help with this problem moving forward.

[@GENcELL2014]

@@m2lumber a quick spray with compressed air and wiping with shop grade paper towels and normal cue tips can pretty quickly clean around bearing blocks and rails. Cleaning is fairly quick, something you can do at the end of a work day in about 10-30 minutes depending on quality of clean. Re greasing with grease gun, moving then wiping excess takes about 20-30 minutes for my 6 rails(2 on X, 2 on Y and 2 on Z). WD40 clean takes around 30-40 minutes. My ShopSabre has ballscrews on every axis and they also go through a similar cleaning regiment but I do that every couple weeks, takes about 30 minutes.

[@lophole7]

Also as Shannon Williams said clean with WD40 periodically. I cut dense foam with my machine and I had the same issues as you. The super fine dust takes the bearings out every time. I also loosened the end pc's on the bearing blocks and pushed them closer to the rail so as to push the debris out of the way. There is slight movement that can be adjusted when you loosen the Phillips screws and grease zerk fitting.

[@m2lumber]

Great tips! Thank you for sharing!

[@forget_me_knot]

In the middle of flattening some slabs right now. Would you say that you were experiencing random “gouging” in the slabs from your bit? It sounds like my y axis skips/shudders at random and that results in gouging the slab. Thanks for posting this video! Super informative!!

[@alanbarrington733]

Well, thank you for this. While my Avid doesn't have the use yours the bearings are a concern.

[@mariamorgan756]

That is a great video!! Thanks Matt at M2 Lumber!

[@kh1188ish]

I see why you had a problem. The holes in the rail where the screws go should have covers over each screw to prevent debris from getting into the slide.

[@JasmeharSingh-t7x]

Thanks mate for this video

[@KernsJW]

Did the bearings come pre-greased? Most have shipping/ storage grease you have to remove and then grease. Looks like a nice machine.

[@m2lumber]

They were sealed in a plastic bag, they did seem to be pre greased so I didn’t not apply much. One thing I read that I have not figured out yet is “how much” grease to apply and how often??? I’ve read you can over-grease them and damage them so I’m not sure if that’s what happened with the first set or not…but def don’t want this issue repeating!

[@KernsJW]

@@m2lumber usually you soak bearings like that in something like alcohol to remove the packing grease and then, once on the rail add a touch of grease usually around half inch to one inch depending on size. Go easy and do not pull hard on the trigger run them back and forth to run the grease through

[@KernsJW]

Oh and its called packing grease

[@m2lumber]

@@KernsJW yeah I don’t think these were that type of bearing you’re describing, there was def no packing grease to need to remove with alcohol soaking or anything. Just a very thin layer of some type of RP.

[@GeometryBuild]

Oh that goo… lol

[@trevordeemie674]

Are these 20MM rails??

[@phredka12]

For wood the completely enough, 20 mm