Lubrication and the Critical Role it Plays at Richmond

Imagine that you have just bought a brand-new lawnmower…

Pull it out of the box, unfold the handle, fill it full of fuel, pull the cord and off you both go. 2 minutes later there is a horrible grinding shriek, and the mower stops…

Minutes later as you are trying to put it back in the box to return the junk, you come across a bottle of fluid that is in the way. Pulling the bottle out and before throwing it over your shoulder, you glimpse a label on the bottle that says OIL. A bit of further reading explains what has happened and you feel a complete fool.

Many of the products available from Richmond require lubrication to function properly and avoid seizing.

What is Lubrication and why is it important?

Lubrication is the process by which a substance is added between solid surfaces that reduces friction, wear, and tear. This could be oil, grease, silicone, or plastic – with a vast combination of choice in the modern world.

Another way of describing lubrication is a layer that separates surfaces or protects them by reducing friction, wear, heat, and energy consumption.

This only scratches the surfaces of what lubrication is and the benefits it provides. In fact, there is a whole science to the process of lubrication named tribology.

Lubrication at Richmond

If it slides, rotates, or moves it will benefit from Lubrication. So, it will come as no surprise that grease and lubrication is an important part of our offering. Below are some examples of how lubrication is used across the broad range of products available from Richmond.

Castors

• All Richmond castors are pre-greased during the assembly process.
• Our heavy-duty castors and higher are all fitted with grease nipples to service the swivel races.

• Richmond offers a grease applicator needle (GRR006) which makes regreasing pressed metal castors easy and efficient. This is especially useful for lubricating castors without a grease nipple.
• Our standard grease is a lithium soap-based grease such as Renolit EP 2. (GRR001)
• When the application calls for high/low temperature and or food equipment usage, we use a high-performance silicone-based grease such as SITEF GRADE 2. (GRR002)
  This grease is supplied upon request, so it is important to understand the needs of the application.
• However, all Richmond Stainless pressed metal Castors come supplied with the high/low temperature food grade grease (GRR002).

• Silicone grease is incompatible with our standard mineral soap grease, so it is best to get it right from the Start.
• In the field a grease change requires flushing out of the old grease first.
• Copious amounts of a product like WD40 does a good but messy job.
• For quantity needs we can disassemble the castors and vapour degrease and even laser cleaning is now available.

Wheels

We have 4 main types of bearing arrangements in our wheels.

1. Plain bore wheels

Nylon and to a lesser extent Polypropylene have a natural low coefficient of Friction. These wheels can be placed on an axle without lubricant, however when we assemble them into castors, we use a silicone scuffing paste, which not only lowers friction, but noise as well.

Cast Iron wheels have a natural degree of lubrication in the flake structure of the iron. Greasing, however, makes an enormous difference to rolling resistance and all wheels come provided with grease nipples.

2. Roller Bearings

All these wheels in our range are supplied pre-greased with a grease nipple.

Regular greasing extends the working life of the wheel by at least two times as much and is critical for stainless steel roller bearings.

If you unload a wheel, and spin it and you hear the bearing rattle, it needs greasing.

3. Precision Ball Bearings

As a standard all these wheels are fitted with rubber seals on both sides and are pre-greased for life.

Where the application calls for regular greasing, we use single metal seal ball bearings and fit a grease nipple.

4.Taper Roller Bearings

All our wheels with Taper Roller Bearings are supplied prepacked with grease and oil seals fitted.
Each Wheel with a taper roller bearing will have a grease nipple.Spacer

5.Other Bearings

Richmond uses a wide range of specialty bearings to suit the needs of a wide range of applications.

All these bearings will require some kind of lubrication.

Some examples of specialty bearings include ceramic bearings, kiln car bearings, stainless steel bearings, high clearance bearings for heat applications, and more.

Materials Handling Equipment

Pallet jacks, fork stackers, lift tables and all other kinds of materials handling equipment all have many hinged joints on them. The main joints on these machines are fitted with self-lubricating bushes which should last the life cycle of the machine.

Some equipment has a grease nipple at a heavily worked joint and requires lubrication.

View our range of materials handling equipment

Conveyor Equipment

This equipment uses lots of bearings which are pre-greased for life.

Bearings which have dried up are better off being replaced rather than re-greased. We can supply a wide range of conveyor roller bearings to suit.

If you try and lubricate all the conveyor bearings there is a risk of over-lubricating the bearings. It is recommended that these be replaced as a more cost effective measure for keeping the rollers rotating smoothly and easily without drag.

View our range of conveyor equipment

Gate Hardware

Lubricating all your gate hardware will keep your gate running smoother and quieter for longer.

Hinges, Rollers, Track, Gear Racks etc all benefit from lubrication with the whole system operating with less force and certainly quieter. Needless to say much less wear and the equipment will last a lot longer.

View our range of gate hardware