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Cube care and Lubrication

vjbelle

Well-known member
What type of grease is recommended for lubricating the Cube? Mine (recently purchased) does not have any lubrication on the worm gears. What parts of the Cube are recommended to be lubricated?

Victor
 

jlm

Workshop Member
just did mine;
first blow off any dust and grit.

the drive gears and racks can use a bit, also any sliding surfaces: move all the way to one extreme, put on a light shine of grease, then the other extreme, more grease, move through the range a few times, wipe off the excess. lots of sliding surfaces to get at

i'm using a Lubriplate 1200-2, a bit heavy duty, but not drippy, applies with a small brush or Q-tip
 
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vjbelle

Well-known member
Really appreciate your response.... I was going to use Gitzo lube that comes with the tripods but I'll see where I can find what you have recommended. The grease that is on my Cube is VERY viscous - much more than anything I have at my disposal.

Victor
 

timparkin

Member
What type of grease is recommended for lubricating the Cube? Mine (recently purchased) does not have any lubrication on the worm gears. What parts of the Cube are recommended to be lubricated?

Victor
Might it be better to use a bit of pencil lead as grease will pick up all sorts of crap which may damage the gears..
 

vjbelle

Well-known member
Yes..... I have thought about that. I was recently in Canyonlands and the tiny bits of sand blowing around got into everything - including the originally greased parts of the Cube. The slide sections are the most difficult to clean as debris can get into areas that cannot be accessed. The gears are exposed and easily cleaned (if lubricated). I chose to lubricate my gears and will see how this works out. The entire unit is very exposed to the elements and it may be best to keep it away from extreme conditions.

Victor
 
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kdphotography

Well-known member
The Squirt lube is labled as "Wax-based"---paraffin? I think that's what I recall being told was used long long ago...
 

jerome_m

Member
At first you wrote "Mine (recently purchased) does not have any lubrication on the worm gears.", then "The grease that is on my Cube is VERY viscous - much more than anything I have at my disposal."

Is your cube lubricated or not? If your cube is already lubricated, I would not add an unknown lubricant. Some greases are not compatible with one another.

If there is no lubricant, you can use pure graphite (which is better than pencil lead, which also contains abrasive materials). You could also grease designed for worm gears, but it will bind dust.

"Mountain bike dry chain lube" appears to be beeswax or paraffin with a solvent. That would work too.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
The main area that needs lubrication (on mine at least - as examined by Mr Milich) was not necessarily the gears, which were lubricated with a grease by Precision Camera Works when they serviced it, but actually the larger flat friction slides either side of the main gear track. On my cube at least, it's dry and looks like it would benefit from a graphite type of lubricant. The main gears look like they have plenty of capacity to handle any dust on the grease.

When it comes to lubricating my Cube, if John Milich says use dried monkey sweat, crushed beetle larve, lithium grease, silicon lubricant or graphite hand chipped from a burned mahogany coal - then that's what I'll use :D
 
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gazwas

Active member
In my opinion, gears that don't move with any speed or great load like in the Cube are best to be lube free and clean than lubed up but full of atmospheric crap in a sticky grease (dry or regular).

For me, regular cleaning maintenance is more important than lubrication with the open nature of the Cube.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
In my opinion, gears that don't move with any speed or great load like in the Cube are best to be lube free and clean than lubed up but full of atmospheric crap in a sticky grease (dry or regular).

For me, regular cleaning maintenance is more important than lubrication with the open nature of the Cube.
I agree - in my case the cube is very lightly lubed overall. The friction pads make more difference than the gears.
 

vjbelle

Well-known member
At first you wrote "Mine (recently purchased) does not have any lubrication on the worm gears.", then "The grease that is on my Cube is VERY viscous - much more than anything I have at my disposal."

Is your cube lubricated or not? If your cube is already lubricated, I would not add an unknown lubricant. Some greases are not compatible with one another.

If there is no lubricant, you can use pure graphite (which is better than pencil lead, which also contains abrasive materials). You could also grease designed for worm gears, but it will bind dust.

"Mountain bike dry chain lube" appears to be beeswax or paraffin with a solvent. That would work too.
My OP stated that the worm gears were not lubricated. The plates do have a very viscous grease applied...... different parts. I've decided to apply a very small amount of lithium grease on all parts and will see how things work out.

Victor
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member
Maybe Rod Lukas has some thoughts? My problem is the little lever that locks the top mounting assembly in place won’t grip tight enough any longer. I’m not sure how to adjust it.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
wayne:

i'm not satisfied with my little lever locks either. plus after a liberal greasing of all the sliding surfaces and working through the movements, the action is not ideal...too much "stiction"
i may open it up for a better understanding
 

vjbelle

Well-known member
wayne:

i'm not satisfied with my little lever locks either. plus after a liberal greasing of all the sliding surfaces and working through the movements, the action is not ideal...too much "stiction"
i may open it up for a better understanding
I have the same issue with my lateral adjustment. Fore and Aft is much smoother.... this is with the Cube on the tripod with the levels towards the user. Taking apart the bottom portion of the Cube seems much easier than the top although I don't know if I would attempt it even though I have a lot of confidence in my mechanical skills.

Victor
 

stngoldberg

Well-known member
After 4 years of use and some occasional accidental bounces off cement etc, I sent my cube to Precision Camera works. It came back brand new at a very reasonable price
Stanley
 
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jlm

Workshop Member
started the dismantle; you can get pretty far with a 2mm allen key, all screws have a bit of loctite (a good thing, and the product they used is a releasing type)

found this:

the arc rotation is entirely guided by arc'd slots and edges machined into the stage (about a .115" x .150" section). no shimming, no adjustment. it is the as machined and anodized fit tolerance of these and the lubrication of these that affect the geared movement.

the friction/brake mechanism is separate: an arc'd nylon rubbing block that fits from side to side presses on the larger flat arc'd surface. the pressure is by a fixed spring on one side and the knurled adjuster and spring on the opposite side; rotating the knurled adjuster bypasses the spring and forces the nylon more tightly against the mating surface on that one side.

i am going to thoroughly clean all the bits and see how it moves; so far my opinion is that the arc'd groove fit is a bit too tight, and may need some careful hand burnishing to get it right. and a dry slide lube might be the ticket here (moly D powder, for example) this fitup is where the stiction comes from

i think the nylon rubbing surface should have no lube. (probably why one user's cube locked up when he sprayed it with silicone lube; the solvent interacting with the nylon negatively. nylon is a naturally lubricated material)
 

jlm

Workshop Member
finished the first stage: what a difference; creamy action, no sticking.

with only the sliding parts fully assembled (gears disconnected, turning it sideways), the upper portion will slide under it's own weight!! with no shake

had to abrade off about .0005" (ha!) -about the thickness of the anodizing layer- with very, very light abrasive and finish mirror polish, checking dry fit as it goes.

used my fave lubriplate, the dry moly powder didn't do it

Arca (or whoever machined this...?) was trying to achieve a near impossible fit: a curved male part fitting in a curved female track/slot, then anodized. basically impossible to get it perfect without some final tweaking.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
lower stage a PIA:
can't separate the sliding parts without screw access;
two screws blocked by the large tilt rotation device on the bottom;
have to remove two tiny e-clips from the stop arms and push out the pins;
pins won't push out without removing the knobs or the gear shaft
knobs held on with tiny allen setscrews and way tight *&^%^$
gear shaft held on with very tight phillips screws, also way too tight *&%^

will have to heat the bugger up and see if the screws lighten up

like working on Stephen's hot rod model A, in a bottle
 
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