You have probably heard the old adage, "It is running like a well-oiled machine." Well, that phrase existed even long before modern machines like CNC machines and lathes existed. That is because all machines that have rapidly moving parts require oil. Without the oil or grease, a lot of things can, and do, go wrong. Here is how that old phrase reminds you to oil your machines and what can go wrong if you do not oil/grease their moving parts.
Machines Run Their Best Oiled and Greased
Lubrication keeps parts moving. That is true regardless of whether you are talking industrial machines or people's joints. For machines, they really do run well when they are lubricated with oil or grease. Their parts are not creating friction, which could slow them down and stop them from working. A well-oiled machine never stops working unless or until you turn it off.
If You Do Not Oil Them, Machines Break
If you do not oil a machine's moving parts, it will break. It breaks because the moving parts that are grinding together grind away at each other enough to cause the other parts to bust through. If you put a little machinery oil on these parts each time you start up the machines, the moving parts do not grind against each and cannot break. Instead, they are spinning and moving freely with very little grinding and minimal friction.
If You Do Not Oil Them, Machines Melt
Friction creates such intense heat that without some sort of lubricant to cool off the connecting components, they become blazing hot. Sometimes they are hot enough to melt their own components. Most of the time, they might become so hot that they melt the materials you are trying to cut, bore, shape, etc.. When that happens, you have materials that have to be scrapped because they have been damaged by the overheated machinery. Everything is forced to slow down until the machinery is cooled and lubricated and ready to go again. If the machine stays lubricated, oiled, greased, etc., then you can keep going and continue the work you were doing all along and with great speed and better efficiency.
Buy Lubricants by the Month
If you tell a machine oil and lubricant company like Lampco Industries what machines you have, they will know how often these machines need to be lubricated and how much lubrication your machines will need in a month. Then you can buy a month's worth at a time. If your company budget permits, buy six months' worth of oil at a time and never have a reason for machines to not run like well-oiled machines.
When you think about it, there are a lot of ways that manufacturing has improved over the years. For starters, it didn't used to be as safe as it is today, and people used to really struggle with various aspects of manufacturing, such as making products that are safe and useful. Additionally, making things used to take a lot longer, which raised prices. I started talking with different people about the benefits of modern manufacturing, and it was interesting to explore how much those simple improvements mattered in the long run. On this little blog, find out how to make manufacturing better than ever before, so you can create products people need.