Lubricants, Equipment & Absorbents
A lubricant is defined as a substance that lessens friction, especially in the working parts of a mechanism. Brown Engineering’s long history of working with all things mechanized, made our company an organic fit for the distribution of lubricants to keep those parts moving. Though we are a distributor for several lubricant manufacturers, our 70+ year relationship with Total Lubricants (formerly, Keystone Elf), has given us the ability to offer our customers a very wide range of great products at reasonable prices.
Recently Brown Engineering became a master distributor for Total Lubricants, distributing their products, in all container sizes from cartridges to bulk, to all types of businesses across the entire nation. We have the right natural or synthetic formula for your machines, as well as the grease guns, lubrication systems, fittings, and hose for all of your applications.
Types of Lubricants:
Hydraulic Fluids
The demands placed on hydraulic systems constantly change as industry requires greater efficiency and speed at higher operating temperatures and pressures. Selecting the best hydraulic fluid requires a basic understanding of each particular fluid’s characteristics in comparison with an ideal fluid. An ideal fluid would have: thermal stability, hydrolytic stability, low chemical corrosiveness, high anti-wear characteristics, low tendency to cavitate, long life, total water rejection, constant viscosity regardless of temperature and low cost. Although no single fluid has all of these ideal characteristics, we can help you select one that is the best compromise for a particular hydraulic system based on the following:
- maximum and minimum operating and ambient temperatures
- type of pump or pumps used
- operating pressures
- operating cycle
- loads encountered by various components
- type of control and power valves
Gear Oil
When selecting lubricants for industrial gearing, numerous factors must be considered beyond simply selecting a product from the maintenance manual’s QPL, including availability, operating conditions, and brand. Our experienced sales people, can help you choose the best lubricant for a gear set, based on the following criteria:
- Viscosity – Often referred to as the most important property of a lubricating oil.
- type of pump or pumps used
- Additives – The additive package used in the lubricant will determine the lubricant’s general category and affects various key performance properties under operating conditions.
- Base Oil Type – The type of base oil used should be determined by the operating conditions, gear type and other factors.
Compressor Fluids
Compressed air systems, which are found in virtually every manufacturing plant, are used in countless applications. In fact, there are more than 100,000 air compressors in the U.S. today, providing compressed air for tools, pneumatic equipment and instruments, among other things. In some cases, loss of compressed air in a facility can actually cause a plant shutdown. It’s no wonder, then, that keeping air compressors running is so critical in plant operation. Doing so, however, calls for special types of lubricants, as many compressors must run in severe environments. We take the following factors into account when helping you select a compressor oil:
- Type of compressor
- Gas to be compressed
- Compressed gas pressure
- Discharge temperature
Greases
Grease is essentially a suspension of oil in a thickening agent, along with appropriate additives. The term grease is used to describe semi-solid lubricants. Grease and oil are not interchangeable. Greases are applied to mechanisms that can only be lubricated infrequently. Greases are generally used for machinery that runs intermittently or is in storage for an extended period of time, machinery that is not easily accessible for frequent lubrication, machinery operating under extreme conditions such as high temperatures and pressures, or on worn components. When selecting a grease, we consider the following:
- Select the consistency grade
- Determine the required base viscosity
- Verify the presence of the EP additives
- Check additional requirements for water resistance, rust protection, and high vibration
Food Grade Lubricants
There are few certainties in life, but one of them is that lubricants leak. Regardless of how much effort is made to guard against leakage, it still occurs. In many industries, this isn’t necessarily an issue. In food-related industries, it is more of a concern, as lubricant cross-contamination in food would be a bad thing. For this reason, a special category of lubricants has been developed – food-grade lubricants. These lubricants must perform all the same functions as ordinary lubricants as well as be inert, tasteless, odorless and internationally approved. The four categories of food-grade lubricants are classified based on the risk of contact with food, feed or pharmaceuticals. A new standard relating to the definitions and requirements for food-grade lubricants was developed and submitted to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for consideration. In 2006 the ISO standard 21469-2006 was adopted. It is intended to be a step above the USDA requirements.
NSF Food-grade Lubricant Classifications
- H1 – Lubricants used in applications where they might touch food, such as equipment over a food line.
- H2 – Lubricants used in locations where there is no possibility that the lubricant or lubricated surface contacts food, e.g., equipment under a food line. Standard industrial lubricants may qualify as H2 lubricants as long as they do not include heavy metals such as detergent and anti-wear/extreme-pressure additives or compounds identified as carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens and mineral acids.
- H3 – Water-soluble and typically edible lubricants used to control rust. An example would be a meat hook or a trolley.
- P1 – Lubricants used in accordance with the USDA’s letter of acceptance and not in a food or beverage processing plant.
Metal Working Fluids
Metalworking fluids, also called metal removal fluids, are complex chemical formulations tasked to perform multiple functions in the machining process. A high level of cutting performance is expected, along with excellent chemical and biological stability. Machine tool and part corrosion protection is a must as well as a high level of environmental health and human safety. With all these demands being placed upon a fluid, some degree of fluid maintenance is required. Metal working fluids are segregated into four main categories:
- Neat oils (not mixed with water), also known as straight oils
- Water miscible oils (macro emulsions or micro emulsions containing more than 30 percent oil) also known as soluble oils
- Semi-synthetics (micro-emulsions) comprised of less than 30 percent oil content and less than 1 micron oil droplet size
- Full synthetics, containing no oil (true solutions)
To select the best metal working fluid, you need to know the metals in use, the predominant machining operations, the basic machine types, the tooling specifics, the plant processes, and the chemical restrictions for your facility.
Lubricantion Equipment & Absorbents:
Brady’s SPC absorbents and spill containment products help you keep your employees and work environment safe from unexpected spills, leaks, drips or other accidents. SPC absorbents are available for cleaning up oil, water and chemical based spills that inevitably happen in industrial and manufacturing enviroments. Select from traditional polypropylene or eco-friendly Re-Form™ absorbents and spill kits to help comply with the latest OSHA and EPA safety regulations.
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Fun Fact:
Grease from the early Egyptian or Roman eras are thought to have been prepared by combining lime with olive oil. The lime saponifies some of the triglyceride that comprises oil to give a calcium grease. In the middle of the 19th century, soaps were intentionally added as thickeners to oils. Over the centuries, all manner of materials have been employed as greases. For example, black slugs were used as axle-grease to lubricate wooden axle-trees or carts in Sweden.