I would think that the joints would be fine for many, many blades. Most likely they will be a lifetime part. For this application I think that they could be listed as maintenance free. Of course, we would only know if we sharpened a several hundred knives and pulled the joints aapart and measured them to see whether there is any noticeable wear (or wear that would be detrimental in the projected lifetime for the part) going on.
Having said that, I do something similar to what I did with the previous arm joints. There is a little flat spot on the ball for the joints accross from the adjustment stud. I have fittted some small super magnets there and on the outside of the collar where the arms screw in. After 50 or so knives there is a small amount of metal filings adhering to the magnets. I just wipe them off and put them back where they were. I also keep a light coat of synthetic lube on the balls, then wipe them down and replace the lube between sessions.
I am not sure that this really accomplishes anything significant, but it makes me feel better.
🙂
To answer your question directly, installing boots or other “maintenance” is probably more for the super OCD folks to worry about rather than a requirement for the machine to give a lifetime of use. IMHO. (BTW, I tend to belong to that group…).
One thing in regards to any kind of boot, unless it fits very tightly around the parts where they exit the boot, we stand a good chance of trapping contaminants inside the boot causing more wear than if they are left exposed and merely wiped down regularly.
Billabong,
I checked the gland covers that you mentioned. First I could not figure out the correct size from what I found. Second there are several materials that they are made from… I have no idea what would be the best for this application (stretchability, stiffness, resistance to fatigue from continuous flexing, etc.). Third, I could not find anyone either online nor locally that sells them nor where I might get some samples to test. If you can offer any insights on any of this, please post it.
Phil
EDIT: BTW it also occured to me, these would have to be cut to fit. All that I saw were designed to seal a straight through cable to a connector or bulkhead. I wonder if they could be cut to fit, then stretched to actually perform a sealing action rather than just being a sort of shield…like the cut funnels that were mentioned a while back.
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