In This Issue:

• Up Front: The Red-Headed Stepchild of Lubrication

• Book Bits: You Get What You Pay For

• Today's Tip: Low-Noise Greases

• Q&A: Hazardous Oils?

Up Front

The Red-Headed Stepchild of Lubrication

It isn't pretty and it doesn't smell very good. You probably don't treasure or care for it like your new chrome-finished alloy wrench set. You might call it the red-headed stepchild of the lubrication industry. Of course, it's the grease gun.

If you're working toward lubrication best practice, don't overlook proper grease gun use and management. After all, the grease gun is one of the most widely used tools in lubrication and it takes care of you a lot more than you take care of it.

There are many important aspects to grease gun management. For example, do you know how many grams of grease per stroke your lever-style grease guns produce? You could find that it varies considerably from gun-to-gun.

How are you storing your grease gun? Do you wipe-off the nozzle prior to use? Are contaminants being introduced when you load new grease into the gun? Are guns labeled or marked with the type of grease they hold?

You'll find a great article on this topic in the upcoming issue of Machinery Lubrication Magazine. If you aren't receiving ML Magazine, be sure to sign up for your free subscription if you live in the U.S., Canada or Europe.

Mike Ramsey
mramsey@noria.com

Book Bits

From "How to Establish a Win-Win Relationship With Your Oil Analysis Lab":

You Get What You Pay For

Large corporate users should avoid the temptation of buying oil analysis services by going out on bid and buying from the lowest bidder. What message is this sending the lab about the value assigned to quality and service? A company should be focused on cost savings springing from the value that a quality oil analysis program creates, such as the reduction of operating costs and maximizing machine reliability.

It is never wise to push a laboratory on price to the realm of unprofitability. This takes the lab out of the comfort zone as the service provider and puts stress in the business relationship. The concept that "you always get what you pay for" rest in the minds of those locked into such low-margin contracts. And, when it comes to oil analysis, end-users should take the view that no data is preferred to unreliable or untimely data. It is a basic principle that the lab must be in a profitable relationship to be motivated and stay viable as a value-producing business entity.

"How to Establish a Win-Win Relationship With Your Oil Analysis Lab" is an e-book which can be found at: http://www.noria.com/secure/ebooks.asp

Today's Tip

• Grease may be used for the lubrication of as many as 90 percent of all rolling element bearings. There are a number of cases, particularly in pump and compressor applications, where there is a requirement for low-noise generation in bearings. The noise generated by the grease is generally originating from the concentration of solid particles in the grease. If the total number of particles can be reduced, then bearings will operate quieter.

There are a number of specialty grease manufacturers who can supply these low-noise greases, and as an added bonus, your bearing will also give longer operating life as this is also highly dependent on cleanliness of the lubricant. Procedures for determining the solid contaminants in grease include ASTM D1404 and DIN 51 813. In the DIN procedure, a sample of grease is pressed through a mesh screen and the solids are weighed. Some grease manufacturers have modified the procedure using finer mesh sizes (down to 1.2 microns). Low noise greases generally have a maximum of 300 mg of particles over 1.2 microns with some products as low as 100 mg! (Tip submitted by Derek Peasley, FAG Bearing Europe)

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Q & A

Hazardous Oils?

"Are lubricants a health risk? I’ve heard reports that lubricants can cause skin cancer."

Materials Safety Data Sheets should be available in all work areas. Because they provide information relating to both health and environmental hazards, all personnel should have easy access to this important information. Use of appropriate safety protection is a must, including gloves and safety glasses when handling lubricants or greases. If lubricants accidentally contact the skin, wash immediately with an approved hand cleaner followed by normal soap.

With respect to skin cancer, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified mineral-based lubricants and rated them according to their risk. A summary of this system is given below. Note the groups do not relate to API base oil groups. Note also that additives and synthetic base oils are not included in this listing.

Group 1: Lubricants with sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity to humans. Includes base oils which are acid-treated oils, mildly retreated solvent-refined oils, aromatic oils and mildly hydrotreated oils.

Group 2: Lubricants with no human data, but there are strong animal data indicating possible or probable carcinogenicity. There are no base oils listed in this group.

Group 3: Lubricants not classifiable as to carcinogenic to humans. Includes base oils which are severely hydrotreated oils.

Group 4: Lubricants probably not carcinogenic to humans. Includes base oils which are white oils and petrolatums. Generally, the MSDS must state the cancer hazard of a lubricant and define its risk category. As with any risk, caution is advised when handling any lubricant.

Martin Williamson, Senior Consultant, Noria Corporation

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Lube-Tips is published by Noria Corporation. Oil Analysis and Lubrication Experts