Lucked out today and bought a an old W-T 2 speed band saw with the hi-low gear box. The name plate say's to use grease in the gearbox. ???? What type of grease or will rear end hypoid 90wt work. Any ideas. Thanks Chuck P.
What kind of gears does it have? Spur? worm?
Dan
I haven't had time to get into it that far. Because it just has a long gear box and is only about 3 inches thick I think is fair to say that they are spur.
Chuck P.
-- I certainly throught this through very carefully....
It says grease, right? So the question should be what type of grease. Let's see, low speed and moderate pressure. Personally I like moly lube. I'd check it 6 months in just to be sure, but once a year should suffice. Neat saw, from a sawyer.
ww
I don't know what specific lube would be best for your bandsaw, but 90W is commonly known as grease, not oil.
The 90W lube used in automotive manual transmissions and differentials is perfectly suitable for bearings and gear surfaces, so it would probably be my choice for a bandsaw gearcase, unless the saw is in a very cold location.. then I might choose a lighter viscosity.
The one characteristic of any 90W lube that I've used (not synthetic) is the strong odor of sulfur.
Oil is packaged by volume (quart/liter, gallon etc), and grease is packaged by weight. You'll find a weight on 90W bottles, even though some containers are the about the same size as a quart bottle. Heavy 90W gear lube for outboard/marine lower units is commonly sold in squeeze tubes, but it's also packaged/sold by weight.
Yes, be careful as the sulfur additive can be hell on certain bushings.
Pete
90 weight (it's not 90W) gear oil may be called "grease" colloquially, but it is most definitely not grease in the technical sense of the term. Grease is oil thickened with additives, most often a soap.
BTW, the SAE scale for gear oil viscosity is not the same as that for engine oils. The viscosity of SAE 90 gear oil is approximately equivalent to SAE 40 or 50 engine oil.
Certain extreme pressure (EP) additives, the stink in gear oils, are incompatible with copper base bearing alloys.
If it says grease, use grease. Don't use a high pressure gear oil ( hypoid gear oil) as the sulfur compunds will attack any brass or bronze bushings oner time
I've read the precautions, and I believe them. I thought about specifically mentioning ball bearings, but just wrote bearings.
A peculiar situation from the past occurred to me.. I recall seeing spider gear thrust washers in differentials years ago, and they sure looked to be a brassy/bronze material (solid washers with lubricant grooves in them), but no special lube was recommended for those differentials.
replying to Grumpy, William McConnell wrote: Had to have my WT motor reworked. Gearbox indeed has a waxy looking grease much thicker than I have encountered before. Larger gear is reddish looking non metal material and I am wondering if some modern grease might attack it. Am looking for suggestions as to the gear material.I'm thinking phenolic resin.
replying to Grumpy, William McConnell wrote: Had to have my WT motor reworked. Gearbox indeed has a waxy looking grease much thicker than I have encountered before. Larger gear is reddish looking non metal material and I am wondering if some modern grease might attack it. Am looking for suggestions as to the gear material.I'm thinking phenolic resin.
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