I have a sign on my laser that says “The rails and transmissions are oiled once a week for maintenance”. I had never cared about that. So my rails started to crunch, so i was wondering which oil or chemical substance do I have to use to lubricate rails?
I was recommended to use white lithium grease, and it worked fine for all my machines so far 
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@misken – Ditto… I also use white grease on my rails.
@kubikpleksiglasa wipe them off with a clean rag then apply the white grease. It takes a very small amount that is often too much.
Somewhere someone suggested light machine oil, such as a sewing machine would use.
However the white grease is what’s on it and what is shipped with, at least my OMTech had some.
IMHO, white grease has less of an attraction to debris…
The choice is yours.
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I use Mobil Vertra 2 oil for my CNC linear rails as recommended. I have also been using that on my Laser Machine for anything that needs lubricated.
Typo: Vactra 2.
A friend gave me a bottle of the stuff. It may become a cherished heirloom to be passed down through the generations, because it’s usually sold in five gallon pails.
Good stuff, but I agree with @jkwilborn that lithium grease may be better for linear bearings in a laser.
I got mine in a quart bottle. But i will still have enough left to lube the hinges on my casket.
Same, but a 55 gal drum of wd-40. Heck, the could just bury me in the drum!
I disagree with this.
There are swiper seals on either end of the block. They keep lubrication in, but also keep lubrication out. So adding lube to the rails has very little effect.
If you flip over an unmounted rail, you’ll see the seal only covers the ends, not the bottom. The bearings are exposed and will get some smoke contamination here. But adding lube on the rails won’t go this route around the swipers. You can grease initially through this way, but not once they’re installed.
Furthermore, a lot of the prob is the blocks pick up contamination inside, that needs to be flushed out. Very little grease transfers in or out around that swiper seal so it’s not really possible to do by adding new grease to the rail.
The mfg has lubrication holes for this, and that’s how the manual says to lubricate them. Not greasing the rails.
The holes have a grub screw in them. In the bigger ones for like CNC machines, they install zerk-type grease gun fittings or oil ports for a central oil feeding system. But they only make grease fittings as small as m4 that I have seen. For these smaller rail blocks you need to take out the grub screw, use a syringe with the largest dispensing needle (doesn’t need a slant sharp point) you can fit in it, and push that way, then replace the grub. It’s going to be hard to push