Yes. Definetly. Here are some guidelines:
There are 3 kinds of lubricant we can use. Each has specific applications and uses:
| type | longevity | reaplication frequency | aplicance | amount |
| ----------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----------- |
| Grease | longest | in clean environments seldom | recommended for enclosed housings, open reduces longevity to medium. atracts lots of ditsy resulting in muck| apply little dabs, wipe off excess |
| PTFE oil | medium | open: 1/30Days, enclosed: upto 60 days | tends to attract dust resulting In gunk. Dries up. Best for open uses. | a few drops is enough wipe of excess. |
| graphite powder | short | 1/ 14 days | cleanest solution, dry, doesn't gunk or muck up. But wears off by slight breezes. Very suitable for open but enclosed environments | a few puffs, do not wipe off excess |
All of The above is fine for 3d printers with right use. A few side notes :
- To much lube does more harm then good. The lube will act as uncompressible and that itself wear the parts faster.
- To little lube and parts wear due friction.
- Dirty lube needs to be cleaned off.
- a part is only clean if the muck and gunk is off and all residual lube is rinsed off with a form of high % alcohol. (99%isopropyl works best).
- maintenance is needed for all machines with moving parts.
- if possible move the lubed parts manually a few times to distribute the lube evenly, for oil and grease, wipe excess of after its distributed. Only then you may go full throttle.