Low temperature lube (-50C) 3

[Clyde38]

I'm looking for a low temperature lube for my planetary gearheads that should operate from -50C to 140C. The gearheads are small, from 6mm in diameter to 20mm. Low temperature has been a the main problem.

 

[Compositepro]

Searching for "low temp. silicone grease" yielded many products that meet your requirements.

 

[israelkk]

Any ball and roller bearings catalog will list low and high temperature oils and/or greases which are used in the bearings. The gearhead probably includes bearings too, therefore, it is logical to use same lube for both. Otherwise you may have an undesired mixture of grease/oil from the gears and the grease/oil from the bearings.

 

[tbuelna]

Brayco (Castrol) 601EF grease flows at well below -100degF, but it's horribly expensive.

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/vac/braycote-601EF-properties.html

 

[andyfox1]

Clyde

You could try tungsten disulphide (WS2) coatings. It provides a very low coefficient of friction and works at low temperatures (it was originally developed by NASA for satellite use) -

http://www.ws2.co.uk/home.htm

for a UK supplier;

http://www.brycoat.com/dry-film-ws2.html

for s US supplier.

Cheers,

A.

 

[sreid]

Nye will have a suitable grease.

http://www.nyelubricants.com/

I'd also look at DuPont Krytox greases.

 

[Clyde38]

Thanks to all for your input. I have searched for low temperature grease online, with manufacturers and in catalogs. I have discussed with our suppliers. I was looking for recommendations based on experience.

 

[israelkk]

http://www4.dowcorning.com/DataFiles/090007b280cdd091.pdf

http://www4.dowcorning.com/DataFiles/090007b280cdd09a.pdf

These are Dow Corning Molykote 33 greases. We use them in needle bearings and miniature gears. We have 30 years experince with them. However, our gears doesn't work continuously but may reat for many years and then used again.

Recall that thesea are silicone greases therefore you should avoid any silicone rubber seals.

 

[Clyde38]

israelkk
Thanks for the feedback. Our gearheads are typically mounted to brush commutated PM DC motors. Silicone has an adverse reaction to the commutation system (see attached).