Hi guys,

I was looking for the best practice to take grease from a Motor bearing during running!! Can anybody help?

It is much better to give than to receive grease from bearing.

Walt

With machine running, I'm not sure I'd try to get a grease sample.

If the machine were shut down I would say you might be able to poke something up the drain to get a sample. But exactly how representative it would be of the bearing grease is open to question. For most representative sample of what is in the bearing, you would like to open the housing... but then a very large risk of contaminating the grease that remains in the bearing.

A tricky proposition any way you slice it.

So that means, we can't use Grease analysis as a predictive maintenance tool?

I would think so. Do you know anyone who is using grease analysis for predictive maintenance?

It may be valuable to examine the grease along with the bearings when you change the bearings. That might give you some better ideas on your long-term pdm, lubrication, and maintenance strategies.

Hi pete,
I thought grease analysis can be used to support our vibration analysis like what we are doing with oil analysis!! But the sampling point... difficult
Yesterday, we got a sample of grease taken from a motor bearing (from the grease drip hole..i don't know what they call it)and we found it full of silica.. Wear pattern is difficult to analyse!!

Probably from the bearing drain where you'll usually find a plug or a relief.

It's not a perfect location since you'd really like to get the grease that's in the bearing, but it's better than nothing.

As you probably know, silica, if it came from inside the grease cavity, would be an indication of possible contamination.

Hi Pete,

But we dont know whether this silica content is directly coming from the grease inside the bearing or from the outside environment(as u know steel plants are always dusty). You can see the pics in the attachments. You can see wear particles from the bearing also.

Anyway what we are thinking of is to grease the bearing fully and when the excess old grease come out, we could be able to get a sample. Maybe this is the only feasible practice.ryt? Maybe this will over grease the bearing...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jenish,

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