Oscillating fan repair: best grease?

[Miramonti]

I've got a fan similar to this one,

It's on the older side and has been starting to squeak a lot lately. I've taken it apart and the armature needs lubricant on each end of the spindle.

What would be the best grease/oil to use? (the front of the spindle protrudes thru bearings and probably needs oil, while the back of the spindle would use grease.)

Update 7/3: Solved with white lithium grease, thanks Rubycon. Disassembled, greased both sides of motor armature and squeak is gone and runs like new. Still gotta take the body apart for the oscillator motor and/or gears, but I'm not using that feature now.

 

[Squisher]

General rule of thumb is that the faster something rubs the lighter the lubricant. This doesn't take into account how easy the lube will get to the area of need. Sometimes a grease might be best, but you'll have a hard time getting grease into the area of need so you use an oil.

On spinning stuff like that I have some oil made for the furnace blower and my air tool oil.

 

[Rubycon]

http://www.amazon.com/Castle-White-L.../dp/B0039I509G

The motor itself most likely has a sealed bearing so no lube necessary.
The squeaking is only heard when the fan is moving back and forth? If you pull up the lever to park it the squeak goes away when it's stationary? WLG will work wonders.

There's a plethora of other things you can use it for too.

 

[Miramonti]

http://www.amazon.com/Castle-White-L.../dp/B0039I509G

The motor itself most likely has a sealed bearing so no lube necessary.
The squeaking is only heard when the fan is moving back and forth? If you pull up the lever to park it the squeak goes away when it's stationary? WLG will work wonders.

There's a plethora of other things you can use it for too.

Cool, thanks. I've got the armature out and the rear side spins in a metal sleeve, and the front protrudes thru a sleeve bearing. It's one of these sides, probably the front, that's been squeaking. It squeaks a little oscillating too and I'll address that as well since it's apart right now.

 

[BoomerD]

I use whatever I have on hand for those. WD-40, while not ideal, will help, as will just about any good lubricant spray/drops.
Keep in mind that those sleeve bearings will accumulate dust/dirt quickly once you put any kind of oil on them.
I use spray lithium grease (white lithium) on the oscillating mechanisms. Seems to work better than most spray lubricant oils.

 

[Rubycon]

I use whatever I have on hand for those. WD-40, while not ideal, will help, as will just about any good lubricant spray/drops.
Keep in mind that those sleeve bearings will accumulate dust/dirt quickly once you put any kind of oil on them.
I use spray lithium grease (white lithium) on the oscillating mechanisms. Seems to work better than most spray lubricant oils.

WLG is awesome isn't it? The Castle brand also uses a vehicle that smells sweet unlike some other brands. As any mechanic will tell you when it comes to lubricants the smell only goes downhill once they're released into the wild.

 

[sdifox]

probably the arm that does the actual oscillation is rubbing against the plastic part. some sort of plastic safe lubricant should do. White Lithium Grease.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I really like the white lithium grease they sell at hobby stores for r/c cars.

 

[BoomerD]

WLG is awesome isn't it? The Castle brand also uses a vehicle that smells sweet unlike some other brands. As any mechanic will tell you when it comes to lubricants the smell only goes downhill once they're released into the wild.

It's better than the "panther piss" smelling stuff that I use for penetrating oil...

(and that's not the worst smelling penetrating oil I've ever used)

 

[Rubycon]

Panther piss - never heard of that one before.

Usually the one that's tossed around here is weasel piss. D:

 

[mmntech]

I really like the white lithium grease they sell at hobby stores for r/c cars.

Hmm, I've been using axle grease on mine. Gotta pick some up. Axel grease from the tube is my go to everything grease, for better or worse. It's cheap and plentiful.

 

[Rubycon]

Axel grease from the tube is my go to everything

Sounds tasty!

 

[Miramonti]

White lithium grease has been excellent so far, the fan spinning extremely smooth and quiet, thanks again for the suggestion. I still have to take apart the 'chassis' section, behind the buttons, to access the oscillator motor and/or bearing, because it's not entirely smooth oscillating yet. Not a problem since I haven't needed the oscillating feature, but I have the additional repair on the 'list' of things to do before it hits the attic again in a few months.

When I disassembled the fan assembly to get to the motor, I found many cracks on the base of the head of the fan, where the weight of the motor and fan itself are secured on the stand. So I cut and ground down some large metal washers to use as reinforcement brackets, and used a lot of epoxy to attach them, reinforcing the plastic. As long as the circuit board holds up, this fan should give me plenty more years of use.

 

[Fallingwater]

WD40 is a decent unlocker, but a bad lubricant. When it dries out it actually leaves a sticky mess.

Use generic lubrication oil; they sometimes sell it as sewing machine oil. I use it everywhere and it does the job.

In case the squeaking continues, I've found a solution that has worked in places all other lubricants have failed: motorcycle chain spray grease. Not any grease will do; you need the kind that, when sprayed on something, sizzles and bubbles for a few seconds. It's incredibly penetrative and it's the one thing that has silenced my bicycle's suspension from the outside (ordinarily I'd need to take the whole thing apart and apply lubricant directly to the various bearings and surfaces inside).

 

[DrPizza]

Just a suggestion for anyone else, the little packets of grease that auto parts stores sell for brake parts are in ideally sized single portions. Big jobs, I grab the grease gun. But for little things (like a fan) a little ketchup sized pack is nice.

 

[amdhunter]

I'll tell you from experience that cooking oil doesn't work very well...

 

[0roo0roo]

I'll tell you from experience that cooking oil doesn't work very well...

works for shredders apparently though