Question:
We have designed and built a special purpose machine for our manufacturing plant and have used ballscrews on all the slides but we failed to incorporate a means to automatically lubricate the ballscrews. Will it be necessary to add an automatic lube system or can we get away with manually oiling the screws each week?

Answer:
It depends on the environment in which the machine will operate.
The problem with manual lubrication is that machine operators neglect to do it until problems are noticed, by then it is sometimes too late. If it is possible it would be preferable to incorporate a simple drip oiler above the ball screw next to the nut rather than relying on manual lubrication.