# 3D Printing > General 3D Printing Discussion >  Lubrication

## Ward

Do you ever lubricate your 3D Printer?

Best Practices?

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## Sebastian Finke

Not strictly necessary. I think keeping it clean, particularly dust free, is paramount to smooth operation. I coat the rods with a very thin layer of silicon oil but more for protection from the elements i.e. preventing rust.

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## Mjolinor

I grease mine with Du Pont Krytox.

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## LambdaFF

Printrbot support suggested a little PTFE lubrication in the rails twice a year.

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## curious aardvark

I wipe down all the rods with a very light lithium grease, that also gets the dirt off. 

Not as often as I should ;-) 
I tend to wait till it starts squeaking.

Apparently a good gun oil is very good.

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## Ward

> I wipe down all the rods with a very light lithium grease, that also gets the dirt off. 
> Not as often as I should ;-) 
> *I tend to wait till it starts squeaking.*
> Apparently a good gun oil is very good.


This was why I posted this CA.
I've been running my printer a LOT the last week and just last night it started making a new noise.
To my ear, it sounds like the reverb type noise you would hear as the "dry" plastic guide tube is sliding over the "dry" steel rod.

It only seems to do it when the print head is far over to the left, headed back right.   I was trying to watch it to attempt to figure out which motion
was involved but found that to be not so easy.

So, I "lightly" oiled the two left/right rods and the two front/rear rods with Tri-Flow PTFE Teflon lubricant....but it didn't stop the noise.

So I guess I'll just lubricate ALL the moving parts I can this morning before I fire it back up.  Hopefully it's not a motor.

The good thing is it has a warranty (if that became necessary) and MonoPrice support has been stellar.

Then again, this may be "normal".

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## ssayer

Funny this... When mine starts squeaking a little and me trying to find exactly where that noise is coming from. You just can't contort your head that well to get your ear in position to find the source of that old squeak...  :Stick Out Tongue: 

I _lightly_ use lithium grease on all the rods and move everything back and forth a few times. It seems that it never gets quiet again immediately, but rather... a couple of hours of printing later... you realize that the squeak is gone...

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## ServiceXp

I use high quality gun oil (Slip2000 EWL).

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## Marm

I've had good success with silicone grease.  I put a small dab on each rod, on each side of each traveler,  and smooth it out, wiping up excess.  It's lasted a year or so and the printer pushes it around.

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## Ward

> Funny this... When mine starts squeaking a little and me trying to find exactly where that noise is coming from. You just can't contort your head that well to get your ear in position to find the source of that old squeak... 
> 
> I _lightly_ use lithium grease on all the rods and move everything back and forth a few times. It seems that it never gets quiet again immediately, but rather... a couple of hours of printing later... you realize that the squeak is gone...


lol.   I know exactly what you mean   :Wink:

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## Ward

Just as a follow up to this post......

The "noise" I started hearing at the 60 hour mark with my printer seems to have been fully resolved with lubrication.   I haven't heard the noise since.
From now on, ever 25 hours I'll lubricate the rails.

I can't speak for anyone else, but considering the stresses on the moving parts of a 3D printer, I would STRONGLY suggest adding periodic lubrication to the rails in order to make your printer last.   Dry friction is not a good thing.

Of course printers are different and YMMV

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## Sebastian Finke

The Creator, Creator II, Creator X have an issue with the pulley being out of alignment with the belt and this caused a noise similar to what you described. Remedied by determining which corner of the printer the noise comes from and then loosening the offending pulley (allenkey/grub screw). Moving the carriage around by hand a bit so the pulley can realign itself and then tighten.

Forgot about this til I reread this thread. I had it too on my one and it takes about a minute to do. I guess your printer is exactly the same so this might be it.

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## Ward

I haven't heard anything since I lubricated it for now I'll assume it needed lubrication.   If the noise comes back I'll do the pulley adjust you mentioned.
Thanks again.

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