Multico A1 - lubrication / maintenance

[madmango]

Hi folks!

I recently picked up a Multico A1 which has these grease fittings.



When I took one of the wheels off, the grease was completely dried out, but there is no play, so I don't think any metal has worn out.

Will any type of grease gun work with these fittings? I saw that there are some with locking jaws, but not sure if those are only for ball type fittings.

For grease itself, I was thinking about something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007WR38TY
Or this, which I think is the same thing, but in a cartridge: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002E2LR72

It says it's good for bearings, would that work?

The motor is an old Brook unit, and it has two grease fittings as well:



Should I pump some in there as well, or does the motor need a different type of grease? I emailed Brook, but it seems like it's a big holding company, I'm not sure if they will have advice for older units.
I think with motors, less is safer than too much when it comes to grease, and in a different thread on the forum I saw some advice to just open it up and grease by hand if needed.
I might give that a go if it's the safer option.

 

[Amplidyne]

If it's an old motor, it might not hurt to pull it apart and put new grease in the bearings. There is IIRC a special grease made for motor bearings, but again IIRC, we just used to use a high melting point grease when I worked in industry. Be very sparing with the grease gun though.

 

[madmango]

Thanks, I looked at the data sheets for both greases, looks like the one in a tub is a bit more heavy duty, both in terms of longevity and temperature range. It works up to 150 degrees C. I think if those parts reach 150 C, I've got bigger problems

 

[madmango]

Okay, so I didn't get a reply from Brook, but an independent repair shop helped out.
I got this PDF which, if I read correctly, says that my model needs grease every 15,000 hours.

Looks like I'll only need to do it once, so I'll just take the motor apart, rather than risk overfilling it.

The PDF suggests a discontinued grease called Shell Alvania RA, the closest one I found is Shell Gadus S5 V100 2.

I'm going to use the same thing for belt pulleys, the only problem I've got now is that most grease fittings are 1/4 inch or 6mm, and this Multico has 3/16 inch ones. Not sure if a standard grease gun will fit, so I got in touch with the people that make grease guns since I've never used one, I'd rather just buy the correct one first time.

 

[Amplidyne]

Now this I'm really not certain about. I do know grease nipples come in many thread sizes, but I've only seen two types of head. The normal type, like on your motor, and the "button head" type that uses a grease fitting that pushes on from the side.
As I've said, lubricate motor bearings sparingly, a quarter of a pump once the gun is primed. Same with repacking the bearings, leave some space. I reckon it's more important to have some clean grease in there than what type, although obviously if you can get the right type it's the one to use. We just used to use grease from the cartridges supplied by the firm. A high melting point "general purpose" grease.
Motors rarely gave bearing problems, and remember that they were often big motors, running continuously in often adverse conditions.
When you're greasing, have a piece of clean rag to hand, and wipe the nipple off before and after. You don't want to put dirt in there with the grease.