Need to Design a Paste Lubricant Applicator Device...Parts and Methods?

[CPosner]

Hi Everyone,

I made a post in the finishing sub-forum, but I think it does not get enough traffic, so I thought I'd share the link here:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=357994

Your thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm really looking for the best way to apply the lubricant to the parts. Specifically the applicator.

Thanks!

 

[ornerynorsk]

Go to McMaster.com and type "grease applicator" in the search box. One could put together a customized solution relatively easily.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[CPosner]

Thanks for the reply. That's a great start...I'm concerned that my lubricant is quite thick and does not have the same viscosity as oils. This paste lubricant won't necessarily wick through those bristles found in the grease applicators. I'm wondering if there's a way I can mist or spray the lube on and then wipe them afterwards.

This seems to the the company which Mcmaster stocks:

http://www.oilrite.com/index.html

I may give them a ring on the phone and see if they have any ideas...

 

[tygerdawg]

Nordson EFD

http://www.nordsonefd.com

In addition to all of their high-precision dispensing equipment, they also do quite well at dispensing high-viscosity fluids.


TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[MikeHalloran]

Oil-Rite makes good stuff for oil, including one drop per day (!) dispensers.

Decades ago, I worked for an automotive manufacturer, and we bought our machine tools with grease distribution systems already installed, as I recall Bijur brand, of the series progressive type, so that each stroke of the central grease pump would force a lttle grease out of an arbitrary number of injection points, all distributed by positive displacement piston/valve/tee assemblies. I don't know if they do dispensers per se, but they can sure get the grease or goop where you need it to be.
They are now here:

http://www.bijurdelimon.com/us/usa/lubrication-system-types/series-progressive.html

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[btrueblood]

We needed a grease applicator for o-ring grooves, in a handheld device. Syringes worked okay, but the user's hand would get tired when we had a lot of product to build. So, I designed and built some pistol-grip, trigger-valve operated, pneumatic syringe applicators using McMaster-Carr's 66505A13 and 6464K12. We still use them.

 

[CPosner]

Thanks for the tips! I like all the ideas, but the lubricate is applied more like a polish where it's rubbed into/onto the surface and has a thick paste type viscosity; significantly more than bearing grease, for example.

When we apply by hand, we rub the paste into the surface leaving no extra on the parts. I'm left with a thin even layer applied. That's why I was leaning toward a special applicator..a nozzle won't do it. Maybe if I can pump the paste through some kind of porous applicator like a sponge and run the part through the sponge. Another concern is whatever the applicator is, it should have a somewhat high abrasion resistance or be a tougher material. Then, I need to find a way to apply the paste to the wheel.

Looking at these:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-buffing-wheels/=qdqq5k

 

[Compositepro]

Perhaps you need to change to a high viscosity oil rather than grease. Grease was invented for uses where you could not regularly apply lubrication. The ways on machine tools are oiled, not greased.

 

[FACS]

This sounds similar to some of the custom glue application machines we design.

One simple method is rather old. Two wheels that sit in a vat of your grease. As the wheels turn they pick up the grease, anything that rolls across them will have a layer of grease applied.

Another method is to pump the grease (standard air over grease system) through the center of a rotating disc. The disk diameter is the same as your desired grease width. Push the plate over the rotating disc (felt or urethane) as the plate passes over or under the rotating disc, it gets speared with the grease. A pneumatic valve controls the air over grease system to control the amount applied.



Charlie

http://www.facsco.com