I've have a pro 48x48 and I check/grease the bearing blocks monthly as outlined in the assembly manual, but haven't seen any mention of other preventative maintenance that should be performed on the system. Living in the South, humidity is high, and I recently noticed a light patina of rust starting to form on the mounting flat of the rack (as in rack and pinion) mounted on top of the gantry. I gave it a scrub with a wire brush, treated the area with some Ospho, then liberally applied Boeshield T-9 to all three racks. That got me thinking about the fact that I haven't seen any PM schedule recommendations from CRP. Should I be greasing the rack/pinions? I'm assuming yes, but how often and with what kind of grease? Similar questions on the Z-axis assembly - does it require recurring lubrication of any part of the mechanism? Just wondering what others were doing.
Great post, can't wait to see what people are doing. I too have noticed a slight oxidation in areas. I cleaned then off and made sure to check every few weeks for signs of more. Other than that, I'm not familiar with doing maintenance on these. It's my first machine.
One of the first things I did when building my machine was cover the steel racks with Slip-it. Car paste wax also works as you're basically just adding a wax film and I think T-9 does a similar thing. This has worked with my table saw and mini mill. The initial rust spots I noticed prior to treatment haven't returned. Time will tell if it works with the racks. Avoid Silicone sprays as they usually attract dust and dust absorbs water.