Machinery Lubrication

Machinery Lubrication May - June 2018

Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation

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40 | May - June 2018 | www . machinerylubrication.com Releasing Oil Before Its Time Having performed many lubri- cation audits over the years, I have encountered the dreaded "soaked box" effect many times. e soaked box is the cardboard case that holds a number of grease cartridges. If not properly cared for, it can find its way into your grease supply with a healthy coating of oil absorbed into the cardboard. At first glance, it doesn't look quite right, but perhaps this effect is ignored because we don't under- stand the mechanism at play or realize how much it can affect the grease's performance. Grease is made up of mostly oil. In fact, most greases are 70 percent oil or more. e ratio of oil to thickener is very important in the performance of the grease. Not only must grease stay in place, it must be able to get out of the way of moving parts and slump back into contact with them as they move. is careful balance is ensured by selecting the proper NLGI grade of grease for a given application. If the grease is too firm, it may not flow adequately in the space to which it is pumped. ere is also an effect called "channeling" or "tunneling." is occurs when a grease loses its "slumpability" and no longer flows back into contact with the moving parts. A contributor to channeling is a change in the ratio of oil to thickener. If even a small amount of oil is allowed to bleed away from the grease, this changes the consistency and can increase the likelihood of channeling, starving the machine of the oil and addi- tives it needs. W hen oi l st a i n s appe a r on t he pack a ging of grea se cartridges or puddles near the area where they have been stored, there is a chance this grease will not behave as required, and the life of the machine may suffer. erefore, you must recognize this as an unacceptable condition and remove such compromised c a r tridges from your grea se supply. More importantly, you must find the source of this sepa- ration and oil loss, and change the conditions that led to it. Often, this is a training and awareness issue, as the grease has passed through many hands before it finally ends up in the machine. Some grease cartridge packaging includes labels and arrows to indicate "this end up," which can help, but reviewing the storage practices at the distrib- utor, shipper, receiving dock and central lubricant storage area may be necessary to eliminate practices that can lead to drying out the grease supply. Have the Bullets Fallen out of Your Gun? When deer hunting with my family, my father always preached gun safety. is meant unloading the chamber when encountering obstacles, including climbing into a tree stand, to make sure the gun couldn't misfire. is also meant you had to remember to load a bullet back in after safely being in position. Unfortunately, for one member of my family, the click of the trigger pull was not enough to get that first deer. It might as well have been a flag coming out the end of the barrel that read "Pow." GREASES 72% of lubrication professionals say oil separation and bleeding have been a problem when storing grease at their plant, according to a recent survey at MachineryLubrication.com START YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION www.machinerylubrication.com

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