Servicing your machines is very important.

Lemwise

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Mar 2, 2016
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Today I spent a few hours servicing my jointer, thickness planer, bandsaw and sliding table saws. I sanded the cast iron beds on all my machines starting with 240 grit working my way up to 1500 grit. The beds are now smooth as a babies bottom and the difference is very noticeable on the jointer and planer. I then took off the side panels on the jointer and planer, cleaned the chains and cogs and applied fresh grease. The next thing to do was realign the support beds on my two sliders. The sliders, cast iron beds and the steel support beds are now all perfectly in line over the length and width again. They weren't off by much but I'm an ant fucker when it comes to my machines (ant fucker is a Dutch expression for someone who's obsessed with perfection). I then tweaked the rollers a little bit and gave them some fresh grease as well. The last thing to do was give the bandsaw a good cleaning. I then replaced the blade guides and again applied some fresh grease where needed. Servicing machines is something that's often overlooked but it's very important. Not only for the life span of the machines but also for a smooth operation.
 
Lemwise said:
Today I spent a few hours servicing my jointer, thickness planer, bandsaw and sliding table saws. I sanded the cast iron beds on all my machines starting with 240 grit working my way up to 1500 grit. The beds are now smooth as a babies bottom and the difference is very noticeable on the jointer and planer. I then took off the side panels on the jointer and planer, cleaned the chains and cogs and applied fresh grease. The next thing to do was realign the support beds on my two sliders. The sliders, cast iron beds and the steel support beds are now all perfectly in line over the length and width again. They weren't off by much but I'm an ant fucker when it comes to my machines (ant fucker is a Dutch expression for someone who's obsessed with perfection). I then tweaked the rollers a little bit and gave them some fresh grease as well. The last thing to do was give the bandsaw a good cleaning. I then replaced the blade guides and again applied some fresh grease where needed. Servicing machines is something that's often overlooked but it's very important. Not only for the life span of the machines but also for a smooth operation.

+1

Equally important for the smaller members of the tool family (for example chisels, blades, bits and planes, to name a few).
 
Over greasing is worse than a lack of greasing.

Most machines I run hard get the bearings greased twice a year, two pumps. 

Lots of my stuff has auto oilers, sight glasses checked before big runs.

I check the oil in my Babbitt bearing jointer twice a year. 

Only thing I do often is paste wax beds.
 
WarnerConstCo. said:
Over greasing is worse than a lack of greasing.

And that's a fact. A lot of people go overboard thinking that more is better. With the new machine greases you don't have to apply a whole lot. I like Molybdenum grease for my machines and it's what was recommended to me by a mechanic who works for a woodworking machines dealer.
 
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