New member & Hobbymat Question

[Mike HParticipant @mikeh]

Im new memeber to the site and to the world of model engineering, i have a Hobbymat BFE 65 (amongst other things) which i recentley converted to CNC and am just learning to use. Although i have manual for this machine it dosent tell me what lubricant to use in the gearbox or the quanity does any body know,

i have done a general web search but to no avail.

Thanks in advance

Mike

[Mike HParticipant @mikeh]

[joegibParticipant @joegib]

Hi Mike.

Welcome to the forum.

I've a Hobbymat BFE65 of late-80s vintage bought new. It's the Mark 1 version with a 4-speed lever gearbox. As you say, the manual is pretty non-specific as to the type of oil/grease to use. For the record all it says is:

(Click to enlarge)

and

(Click to enlarge)

I must confess all I've ever used for rust prevention/oiling the slideways is a general purpose oil acquired long ago. For these purposes, a recommendation I often hear nowadays is to use SAE30 lawnmower machine oil.

As regards the milling head internals, in some ways the BFE65 resembles a poor man's EMCO F1/FB2 but the lubrication regime is different. The EMCO machine gearing runs, I believe, in an oil bath that has to be replenished/refreshed. I had occasion to open up the Hobbymat head 20 years ago when I had a problem and found that the gears (phenolic composition) were simply smeared with what appeared to be conventional bearing grease. I used this when completing the repair. Incidentally, I'm assuming you likewise have the geared head — the later Mark2 Hobbymat had a belt-driven arrangement for which the lubrication regime may be different.

Your CNC conversion sounds very interesting — I'd love to see a description (with photos, please).

Joe

[Mike HParticipant @mikeh]

Hi Joe.

Thanks for the info, looks like its grease i need to be using as its the geared head. I will post some photos later this week of the the motor mount and drive belt set up.

The parts i used are:

**LINK** and
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3Nm-Stepper-motor-CNC-Milling-machine-router-/321036123392?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item4abf3e7d00

The electronics are all housed in a old computor 19" rack mounting case complet with multiple cooling fans unfortunatly this will prove hard to photograph as it mounted to the side of my bench.

Mike

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