Have you ever given thought to the severe operating environment of an industrial gearbox? Even if you have correctly lubricated the bearing, elevated temperatures, airflow and loads as often have dust and water that enter through breathers and failing seals often take their toll! Water in the gearbox lubricant is perhaps the most common cause of bearing failure, so today we’re going to examine how water in Gearbox lubricant causes bearing failure.

We all know that water is harmful to machinery in general, and bearings in particular. As little as 500ppm of water in gearbox oil can damage machine surfaces directly, through a sequence of events and often with a variety of helpers. In many cases, the most severe damage is as a result of secondary causes. For instance, water may initially lead to premature oxidation of the base oil. When the oxides combine with more water, a corrosive acidic fluid environment exists.

Have you ever had someone ask if you want to save money on your air compressor oil? Well it’s really not that difficult to achieve some pretty major savings, just by following some best in class practices: Especially if you're operating several air compressors.

A significant saving can be had by moving away from time-based oil changes on air compressors. The real cost of changing 20 lt’s of air compressor oil is not just the cost of the oil, but once you take into account the direct and supervisory labour and downtime you

Choice is good, but how do you determine the best synthetic oil?

If we all agree that synthetic lubricants offer better protection than conventional mineral oils, then the next question surely has to be how do you determine the best synthetic oil?

To avoid costly damage, it’s important to determine the best synthetic oil before you buy. In this article we’re going to answer the question in broader terms, so as to include industrial products as well as synthetic motor oils used in

In our modern environment we’re surrounded by hydraulic applications.From massive oil-drilling rigs to the robots that assemble our cars. All hydraulic, and each application eking out that last iota of oil life and performance to save money and the planet. The one thing they all have in common is their life-blood; hydrolic oils. But in improving performance, what are the advantages of using synthetic hydrolic oil vs regular oil?

Well for one synthetic hydrolic oil is much more stable under

We all understand that we need to change oil: Whether it’s in the chip fryer or in our car engines! But What should synthetic oil change intervals be? And why does it need changing in our cars?

Strangely, the reasons for regular oil changes is common to all oils; including our fryer at home:
Oxidation - This changes the composition of the oils, and when combined with other elements, often forms harmful acidic compounds.

Contamination - This is usually from external sources (Silica), but a as the mechanical components wear, the wear particles also contaminate the oils.

During the km’s between synthetic oil changes, the lube in your cars engine gradually becomes contaminated with silica, metal particles, gasoline and other impurities. As mileage accumulates, so do the contaminants. Eventually, enough impurities accumulate that the filter cannot remove them and the oil cannot keep them in suspension.

As the global population grows, consuming more energy, natural resources and the environment are increasingly under threat. One product that has a particularly bad reputation is oil; with many organisations working on how to reduce the effect of oil on the environment, while still meeting the ever increasing energy requirements.
To highlight the environmental impact: The used lubricant from one motor vehicle's change can contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh

Whenever there’s a problem with a piece of industrial equipment that touches on lubrication, the smart money inevitably turns to synthetic industrial oils. But what are the facts? What can reasonably be expected of the performance of synthetic industrial oils?

Well let’s look at some of the common problems associated with lubrication and which problems synthetic industrial oils can solve.

Due to environmental factors, such as reduced airflow and higher ambient temperatures created by equipment operating in indoors, equipment often suffers from reduced efficiency, increased carbon build-up, sludge and varnish build-up on internal component surfaces.

Synthetic industrial oils are engineered to be more stable at higher

There’s an ever growing swing towards the use of synthetic gear oil, and in this article we’re going to examine eleven good reasons to use synthetic gear oil in your industrial transmission systems.
As manufacturers continue to push the limits of machine performance to increase productivity, reduce downtime and energy costs, suppliers need to offer increasingly creative solutions. Interestingly, one of the most effective ways to achieve these performance levels is also one most frequently overlooked: proper lubrication.

OEMs specify what lubricants should be used, and therefore it’s important for them to view lubricant as a machine element, in the same way that they consider material composition of the gears and bearing type. As with all the

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In any group of petrol heads the conversation will invariably turn to engine oils, engine oil price and the inevitable question as to why use synthetic motor oil?
Let’s ignore engine oil price for a moment and examine the performance of full synthetic engine oil. To keep this article brief I’ll focus on full synthetic motor oil, API Group V, as opposed to semi synthetic oil.
Synthetic motor oil is specifically blended to meet the operating requirements of the ever evolving engine. The following properties are common in

We’ve all heard about the API classification of oils: But how is the classification of  lubricant base oils made? In order to fully understand the classification of lubricant base oils we also have to look at the evolution of lubricant base oils.

From the time that man first invented machines to reduce manual labour, lubricants have become an essential part of day to day industry. For decades crude oil derived lubricant base oils have been used to formulate lubricants for various applications. Today lubricant engineers classify these mineral lubricant base oils in Groups I & II.

The Second World War saw the development of a new breed of machine called a jet or turbine engine. Conditions prevailing inside this new machine were so extreme that a new lubricant had to be developed to ensure long term reliability. Fortunately both the Americans and Germans were already in the early stages of producing Synthetic lubricants. Manufactured by man in a laboratory by reacting long chain alcohols and acids, these lubricant base oils

How often do you re-pack bearings? Ever wondered whether you’re doing it right? Well here are four important considerations when deciding to lubricate a bearing:
• Lubricant selection
• Application method
• Volume of lubricant to be delivered
• Application Frequency.

There are many different ways to lubricate a bearing, and opinions vary concerning which approach is best. Therefore, the best approach may be to use several methods to develop a strategy that defines default values, which can then fine-tuned, based on feedback from visual inspections, operating temperature, ultrasonic instrumentation and other factors. Due to the variability of operating conditions and machine design, it could be impossible to be precise without introducing the condition-based component to the

Have you ever driven through a deep puddle of water only to have your hapless engine lock solid after ingesting a cylinder full? This is known as hydraulic lock and is an expensive illustration of hydraulic power which hydraulic oils convey.

In this article I’ll be focusing on hydraulic oils as opposed to brake fluids, which are a very specialised sub category.

Functions and properties
The primary function of hydraulic oils is to convey power. However, there are other important functions of modern hydraulic oils. These the major functions of hydraulic oil and the properties of the fluid that affect its ability to perform that function:

Hydraulic Performance properties
• Low compressibility (high bulk modulus)
• Fast air release

What is synthetic oil? Everyone knows the answer... it’s an artificial oil! Well; right and wrong. Today we’re going to try and shed some more light on what is synthetic oil.

Synthetic base stocks are man-made and tailored to have a controlled molecular structure with predictable properties, unlike mineral base oils, which are complex mixtures of naturally occurring hydrocarbons.

In order to understand what is synthetic oil, it’ll be helpful to know that Dr. Hermann Zorn of I.G. Farben Industries in Germany began

Do you monitor the oil temp of your stationary air compressor? Ever notice that the oil runs hot? Are you spending more on oil-changes because of oil deterioration? Well you could save on oil changes and extend equipment life by switching to synthetic air compressor oil.

Using  synthetic air compressor oil has all of the following benefits; extended

Following on from last weeks article we’re going to look at industrial energy savings using Synthetic lubricants.


Not only can companies extend their machine investments by applying energy-reducing lubricants that decrease wear and help mitigate the need of full-out replacement, but the long term industrial energy savings using Synthetic lubricants are significant .

In the case of a ball-milling operation that made the switch from a mineral-based oil to a mining-specific synthetic lubricant, this is exactly what