OF 1400 plunge issue

[Sparktrician]

I use it on the glide columns and return springs of all my routers.

How do you lube the springs? Do you take the router apart? Does it void warranty?

If firearms lubricants are relevant - is  Hornady 9991 One Shot Spray Case Lube with DynaGlide Plus the same as the DynaGlide Plus suggested earlier only marketed for gun usage? That one I could find for shipping.

I take the router apart far enough to access the necessary parts.  Be very conservative with the lubricant of choice.  You don't want to attract sawdust.  My routers are long off warranty, so it's not an issue. 

EDIT: And another thing, now that I think of it - I also regularly scrub the columns with 0000 steel wool before a very conservative wipe-down with Militec-1. 

 

[vinay]

Are there instructions somewhere how to do that?
I don't want to take it apart more than the minimum required to reach the springs and posts.

 

[aloysius]

Personally I'm not a fan of wet lube on Router posts.  It just attracts dust & swarf, exacxerbating the problem in the long-term.  Remember, Festool isn't Elu.  Their routers are recycled Festo/Mafell co-operative designs, decades old.  Only the big 'un is new.

To keep the legs clean & clear of gunk accumulation, I regularly dust into the bronze bushing (motor housing & superstructure) with a stiff bristle paintbrush & give the occasional dusting of carpenters' pencil shavings (powdered graphite) to the post/bushing interface to ensure the smoothest of plunge operation.  Using powdered graphite as a dry lube keeps everything neat, clean & tidy without the inevitable dust buildup.  The bronze bushings are actually used as a substitute for wet lube on the routers' posts.  I personally find it preferable to keep the posts as shiny as possible. 

Mind you, it's only the bigger 177/E & 626 models that ever had discernable stiction in the plunge.  My littl'uns (96/E & 97/E) always display impeccable manners, making the rather clumsy Festo/Mafell equivalents seem pretty crude in comparison.  In the past, Festo/ol routers were notorious for having fairly corrosive metal used in the posts.  Maybe there's some property of the ferrous metal or a lack of proper case hardening to the surface of the posts that interferes with smooth plunge operation.

 

[Cheese]

If firearms lubricants are relevant, is Hornady 9991 One Shot Spray Case Lube with DynaGlide Plus the same as the DynaGlide Plus suggested earlier only marketed for gun usage? That one I could find for shipping.

If I remember correctly, several years ago when I was researching this issue, I had determined that Hornady had probably been the original inventor of DynaGlide that was at the time marketed exclusively to the firearms industry and then, at sometime, it was eventually repackaged under a different name for use in the woodworking arena.

The nice thing is that DynaGlide goes on wet but within 30-60 seconds is completely dry to the touch. In that respect, it actually evaporates 10-20 times or more, faster than Boeshield.
A thick application of Boeshield can take up to 24 hours to dry.

 

[apontesworkshop]

I recently purchased the OF-1400 and had creaking noise, and exchanged it.  Today my replacement arrived and the creaking noise appeared again. I lubricated the post but I think its the springs. I am wondering if the issue is from the unit being bounced around via shipping.

Here is a youtube clip of the creaking:

 

[AlexThePalex]

Seems to me that sound is just the springs, they can do that.