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Lubrication Protection for Miscellaneous Applications

Automotive Equipment Needs High Performance Lubrication

MicroPoly’s solid lubrication solutions are engineered for the demanding conditions of automotive manufacturing, where equipment reliability and plant cleanliness are critical to uptime and product quality. By replacing traditional grease and oil with a proprietary oil‑filled polymer, MicroPoly helps eliminate lubricant dripping, part contamination, and frequent manual relubrication. These solid lubricants are well‑suited for overhead conveyor wheels, assembly line pallets, and specialized forging and material‑handling equipment where grease leakage can create safety, housekeeping, or quality problems. The oil‑saturated polymer stays in place and releases lubricant as needed, even in wet or aggressive washdown environments, while reducing the risk of lubricant reaching painted surfaces and affecting finish quality. For many applications, MicroPoly offers a “lubed‑for‑life” approach that supports longer bearing and chain life, fewer PM tasks, and cleaner, safer, more efficient automotive production lines.

Miscellaneous Lubrication: Case Studies and Results

  • Bearing Type: Cam Followers
  • Conditions: Manual lubrication of cam followers caused grease and oil to get on the bed material. This caused staining, which resulted in loss of product.
  • Results: MicroPoly has stopped the lubrication staining, thus eliminating the need to scrap bed material due to staining from grease and oil.

  • Bearing Type: 20 mm single row ball bearings
  • Conditions: Bearings exposed to grit, moisture, and heat from bag sealers. Bearing life was 6 months.
  • Results: Bearings were filled with MicroPoly formula MPI-0779. Bearing life extended over 18 months.

  • Bearing Type: Flanged ball bearing units, 2-15/16″ bore
  • Conditions: Wood dust and atmospheric humidity. Bearings changed every 3 months. Bearings are outside and exposed to moisture. Speed 600 RPM.
  • Results: Bearing life has been extended to over 1 year.

  • MicroPoly Type: 1″ x 2″ x 12″ chain lube block
  • Conditions: Frictional heat on expensive profiled UHMW chain guide caused softening of guide and replacement of 40 blocks, 2 or 3 times a year.
  • Results: Customer cuts MicroPoly blocks into 6″ lengths and machines sides down to provide two raised shoulders. MicroPoly has doulbed the life of the UHMW. Change out on the guides had cost customer $500 per block. Forty blocks x 2 changes per year saved $20,000.

  • Bearing Type: Tapered roller bearings, HH249910/HH249949 & EE350750/EE350351
  • Conditions: Coal dust caused bearing seizure, resulting in the dust being ignited. Bearing life 9 months.
  • Results: Used in addition to conventional lubrication, MicroPoly has kept contaminants out of the bearings. Life of the oil bath has increased twofold and is now changed out every 6 months. Bearing life has been extended to 10 years. Maintenance related downtime has been substantially reduced, with annual cost savings of $250,000.

  • Bearing Type: Needle roller bearing, 1-3/4″ – GR32 – GR40
  • Conditions: Concrete dust contamination. Bearing life 3 – 4 months. Speed 178 RPM.
  • Results: Bearing life extended to at least 2 – 1/2 years.

  • Bearing Type: Pillow block
  • Conditions: Water, dirt, and mud. Bearings are outdoors. Bearing life varies.
  • Results: Bearing life extended at least threefold.

  • Bearing Type: Spherical roller bearing, #22315
  • Conditions: Dirt and gypsum contamination. Bearing life 1-1/2 months.
  • Results: Bearing life has been extended to over 1 year.

  • Bearing Type: 5208EENR, double row ball bearings
  • Conditions: Water, chips, dust and dirt penetrated the bearings. Bearing life 4 weeks.
  • Results: Bearing life has been extended from 4 weeks to over 4 months.

  • Bearing Type: Single row ball bearings #6202 and 6203
  • Conditions: Solvents, ink, and water got past the seal. Bearing life 3 months. Speed 1725 & 3450 RPM.
  • Results: Bearing life extended to at least 6 months.

  • Bearing Type: McGill cam follower
  • Conditions: Required manual greasing that involved shutting down the equipment/line for at least 5 hours. Bearing life not a primary consideration.
  • Results: Manual greasing is no longer required. Downtime due to manual greasing has been eliminated, resulting in substantial cost savings.

  • Bearing Type: Fafnir 121
  • Conditions: Ink and water got past the seal. Bearing life 1-4 months. Speed 500 RPM.
  • Results: Bearing life increased to at least 2-8 months.

  • Bearing Type: Sealmaster NP 16 1-3/16″
  • Conditions: Paper goes through the looping line where tar is applied. The tar contaminates the bearings and normal life for a greased bearing is one week.
  • Results: With MicroPoly installed, the bearings are still running after four weeks.

  • Bearing Type: Fafnir 1106KKR, 1108KKR, 1203
  • Conditions: Sand and concrete contamination. Bearings are outdoors. Bearing life 1-2 days. Speed 100 RPM.
  • Results: Discontinued monitoring after 6 weeks. Results exceeded expectations.

  • Bearing Type: R6ZZ single row ball bearing
  • Conditions: Paint and solvents contamination. Bearing life 1-2 days. Speed 5-10 RPM.
  • Results: Bearing life has been extended to at least 30 days.

  • Bearing Type: Needle roller bearing, HJ4055228
  • Conditions: Too much heat generated with previous lubrication method, and a severe housekeeping problem existed. Speed up to 1200 RPM.
  • Results: Totally eliminated housekeeping problem. Greatly improved the performance of the printing press by reducing the thermal changes in the press, due to the bearings operating at much cooler temperatures.

  • Bearing Type: Roller bearing, #23052
  • Conditions: Sewage in oil bath.
  • Results: Service life increased 300%, with reduced labor costs by decreasing maintenance schedule from 6 months to 18 months. The potential of contaminating local waterways with oil was reduced, helping to avoid incurring fines of $100,000 per occurrence.

  • MicroPoly Type: MicroPoly 1″ x 2″ x 8″ lubrication is used to lubricate conveyor chain
  • Conditions: Water and dirt get into pins. Chain life is very short. Application is indoors.
  • Results: Results are very good. All conveyor chains are now lubricated in this manner.

  • Bearing Type: Self-aligning ball bearing
  • Conditions: Bearings were running in a wet environment. Bearing speed 1,100 RPM. Temperature 130-140°F. Bearing life 2-3 weeks.
  • Results: MicroPoly filled bearings have been running for 3 months so far with no failures.

  • Bearing Type: 61902 & 61903, single row ball bearings
  • Conditions: Dirt and contaminated oil penetrated the bearings causing premature failure.
  • Results: Bearing life has been extended threefold.

  • Bearing Type: Guide wheels and idler wheels, 22308 spherical roller bearing (axle bearing), FYRP 2-1/2″ roller bearing
  • Conditions: Trenchers run in dusty, dirty, muddy conditions. Dirt and mud are pulled up and packed into the housings around the bearings. Idler wheels and axle bearings were replaced every month. Roller bearings were replaced every 2 months.
  • Results: Idler wheels and axle bearings filled with MicroPoly have been in service for almost a year. Life of the FYRP roller bearings was extended from 2 months to 2 years.

  • Bearing Type: Solid profile installed in metal plate
  • Conditions: The surfaces had to be greased daily and, if not, metal would wear out and cause trunion to track off and shove bearings out of their housings.
  • Results: MicroPoly has been installed 3 months. No additional lubrication needed. Labor savings has been substantial.

  • Bearing Type: 1204ETN9, double row ball bearings
  • Conditions: Abrasive tissue and paper dust locked up the bearings. Heavy loads; roll is as big as a car. Bearing life 2.5 months.
  • Results: MicroPoly keeps the contamination out of bearings. Bearing life extended to 1 year.

  • Bearing Type: Single row ball bearing, 6204
  • Conditions: Fines from the copper wire were getting into the bearing, causing bearings to fail in 2 months.
  • Results: Bearing life has been extended to 6-8 months.

  • MicroPoly Type: Conveyor chain lubrication, #80 chain, 50′ long, and 24′ center distance with 8″ sprockets
  • Conditions: Chain moves 1 revolution every 2 minutes. Manual greasing of chain required every 4 weeks. This manual greasing contaminated the boards and dripped grease onto the floor, creating safety and housekeeping problems.
  • Results: MicroPoly blocks have been in place 6 years and are still in operation. Manual greasing has been eliminated, thus solving the safety and housekeeping problems.

Need Help Choosing a Lubricant?

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