Hey! Sami here from Avid CNC. This is an overview on how to grease and maintain
your machine. If you'd like to learn about how to assemble your grease gun
click on the video in the description. Of you don't have a needle tip adapter it is
listed on our website or feel free to contact our support team. If you ordered
your machine around or after April 2019 then your z-axis likely looks like this
and has a different greasing procedure. Stop here and go watch this video linked
on the screen or in the description below. If you have bearing blocks from
before that date then this is a task that should be done at least once a year
or every six months of your running production. I'll be showing you how to
grease the bearing blocks on the X&Y gantry as well as the bearing blocks and
ball screw on the z-axis gantry of your Pro Series machine. This is also
applicable to the table and gantry axes of the benchtop Pro. It's helpful to have
your machine on and Mach loaded so that you can drive the gantry to a more
accessible location. First remove the red dust covers behind the plate are four
bearing blocks, two on each side. These are the same on the X and y axis if you
have a bench top Pro. You can raise and lower the spindle to make the screws
more accessible. I'll remove the dust covers on both sides.
After removing the dust covers we will lower the spindle down to reveal the top
half of the ball screw and add a bead of grease along the top length. Here's a
reference photo for the recommended amount. Then raises the axis up and do
the same for the bottom half of the ball screw. Raise and lower the z-axis a few
times to distribute the grease evenly. Now onto the bearing blocks. They're a
little tricky to access. There are screws on the top and bottom of each bearing
block and you can remove either though we recommend to remove the top screw on
the top bearing block and the bottom screw on the bottom bearing blocks for
easier access. Be careful not to drop this screw or
perhaps lay down a sheet of material on your bed so if it does fall you won't loose it
underneath the machine. Once you remove it insert the needle tip fitting of the
grease gun where you just removed the center screw. Give it three to five pumps
per block reinsert the screw into the bearing block. Now for the bottom bearing
blocks, I find it easier to access the screws on the bottom side so I suggest
driving the gantry over to the edge of the bed for a more comfortable access.
These might take a little bit more patience to remove and reinsert the
screw. Go ahead and give those three to five pumps on both sides as well.
I found it was also easier if I removed any dust collection hoses and
attachments. Let's move on to the X and y-axis bearing blocks. If your bearing
blocks have a zerk fitting then perhaps it's time to switch them out for our new
flush-mount grease fittings. They're available on our website and again do
feel free to reach out to the support team as well. I found it was
easiest to remove the sensor bumpers on the ends of the extrusion to access the
fittings. When you're driving the machine to the end of the linear rail in Mach
hold down control and click the arrow keys to move the gantry in smaller and
more controlled steps. You can remove the zerk fitting inserting the needle tip
adapter into the hole as you did for the z-axis bearing block. Then simply reinsert
the zerk fitting. These new fittings have a nice low profile and a ball door that
is compatible with the needle tip adapter. I'll thread in the new grease
fittings and give each bearing block 3 to 5 pumps. These new crease fittings
have a nice low profile and the ball door is compatible with the needle tip
adapter, plus once you have them installed you won't have to remove the
bumpers in order to access them. We'll do the same for the bearing blocks on the
gantry axis after greasing the bearing blocks. I'll reattach the dust covers and
bumpers and are ready for another 6 to 12 months! Thanks everyone for watching.
Keep an eye out for more machine maintenance, pro-tip, project and build
videos soon. We'll see you in the shop