Set it up with air bearings and a small air compressor. no more squeaking wheel and it's frictionless for the hamster.
hamster wheel lubrication
- Thread starter Rick in PA
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Originally Posted By: ethangsmith
Could you slip a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the ends of the shafts that fit through the holes? If you can, slip pieces over and shrink them to fit tightly over the shafts. Then use your cooking oil to lessen the wear on the tubing. Not only will it be silent, but it will give an smoother ride for Hammie the Hamster.
That's not a bad thought. One of the hamster wheels does have excess play in the bearing, making it a bit noisier and rattlier than the rest. I may be able to get some Teflon based heat-shrink and give that a try, thanks.
Tom,
While the thought of an air bearing for a hamster wheel is intriguing, I'm concerned with the energy consumption of running an air compressor overnight. Also, instead of squeak, squeak, squeak at night, we'd have the intermittent, thumpa, thumpa, thumpa of the air compressor. (Waking up in middle of night "There goes that darn air compressor again.") I just don't think this is a good trade-off.
Could you slip a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the ends of the shafts that fit through the holes? If you can, slip pieces over and shrink them to fit tightly over the shafts. Then use your cooking oil to lessen the wear on the tubing. Not only will it be silent, but it will give an smoother ride for Hammie the Hamster.
That's not a bad thought. One of the hamster wheels does have excess play in the bearing, making it a bit noisier and rattlier than the rest. I may be able to get some Teflon based heat-shrink and give that a try, thanks.
Tom,
While the thought of an air bearing for a hamster wheel is intriguing, I'm concerned with the energy consumption of running an air compressor overnight. Also, instead of squeak, squeak, squeak at night, we'd have the intermittent, thumpa, thumpa, thumpa of the air compressor. (Waking up in middle of night "There goes that darn air compressor again.") I just don't think this is a good trade-off.
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Build an outdoor soundproof enclosure for a quiet series rotary screw air compressor. noise problem solved!
Krytox would also work well. It seems to be the end-all general purpose grease.
Krytox would also work well. It seems to be the end-all general purpose grease.
Vaseline. Worst pet ever! I would never own another one. I agreed to a dog after we had a hamster for a few months. They smell, they sleep all day -- play all night. Not really a pet for small kids (they are in bed when hamster comes out to play).
Quote:
Build an outdoor soundproof enclosure fora quiet series rotary screw air compressor. the hamster. noise problem solved!
Build an outdoor soundproof enclosure for
Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
Quote:
Build an outdoor soundproof enclosure fora quiet series rotary screw air compressor. the hamster. noise problem solved!
much to simple and inexpensive...
Quote:
Build an outdoor soundproof enclosure for
much to simple and inexpensive...
Originally Posted By: helix_rider
Marvel Mystery Oil, the Hamster will love the smell too..
That's what I've been using for my mice, mixed with 10w-40. Never thought it could harm them.
Will give Vaseline a go next time.
Marvel Mystery Oil, the Hamster will love the smell too..
That's what I've been using for my mice, mixed with 10w-40. Never thought it could harm them.
Will give Vaseline a go next time.
If I was you I would use Mobil 1 I have used it for 32 years on my hampster wheel and no problems. So have my friends.
tom slick said:
Update: While the cooking oil got rid of the squeak, squeak, squeak, the wheels still had a lot of rumble, banging and noise due to the sloppy "bearings". I'd constantly find the hamster cage had been moved out of my son's bedroom so he could get a good night's sleep.
As suggested in one of the earlier posts, I put some Kynar (a tough Teflon like) heatshrink tubing on the shafts to take out the bearing play and used Vaseline as a lubricant instead of cooking oil. The wheels are now very quiet. We'll see how long this lasts. I wonder why some hamster wheel manufacturer doesn't add Nylon bushings to the design?
Who would have thought I'd get quality suggestions on hamster wheel bearing improvements? Bobistheoilguy...whatawebsite!
As suggested in one of the earlier posts, I put some Kynar (a tough Teflon like) heatshrink tubing on the shafts to take out the bearing play and used Vaseline as a lubricant instead of cooking oil. The wheels are now very quiet. We'll see how long this lasts. I wonder why some hamster wheel manufacturer doesn't add Nylon bushings to the design?
Who would have thought I'd get quality suggestions on hamster wheel bearing improvements? Bobistheoilguy...whatawebsite!
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We can now add BITHWG to the list of "BobIs" acronyms.
Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30 should do the trick, after all it is HTO-06 and GM4718 certified. I'm sure it is hamster wheel certified as well. As far as the interval goes, I would re-oil in about 5,000 turns.
I suggest that he set up an optical counter to track the revolutions, with an email notification system or at least an audible alert for when the change interval is reached.
hee..hee.. my take is a rather elaborate approach of programming a PIC to simulate OLM on the hamster wheel bearing lubrication intervals, with the following sensors to detect/determine lubrication intervals:
(1) ambient temp
(2) revolutions accumulated since the last change (rotations counter using magnetic reed relay + a small magnet works wonders, optical, not so much due to the rather disturbing beam that may have a disruptive effect on normal hamster behaviour)
All other monitoring sensors or notification device (e.g. you can set it up to dial to your cell phone using your DEC security alarm set up, or you can get something similar in nature off the shelf unit from wallymart,etc.), notifying you that it's due for a relube job.
Now, this is what I called "elaborate" approach towards this rather simple matter.
(Now, let's try the german engineering approach...*smiles*)
j/k.
Q.
(1) ambient temp
(2) revolutions accumulated since the last change (rotations counter using magnetic reed relay + a small magnet works wonders, optical, not so much due to the rather disturbing beam that may have a disruptive effect on normal hamster behaviour)
All other monitoring sensors or notification device (e.g. you can set it up to dial to your cell phone using your DEC security alarm set up, or you can get something similar in nature off the shelf unit from wallymart,etc.), notifying you that it's due for a relube job.
Now, this is what I called "elaborate" approach towards this rather simple matter.
(Now, let's try the german engineering approach...*smiles*)
j/k.
Q.
jig-a-loo works well and is a funny name!
ditto! jig-a-loo lubes are actually fairly decent: I'm using their graphite spray with great satisfaction.
I wouldn't wanna spray the hamster wheel with graphite spray though...too slick I'm suppose...
Q.
I wouldn't wanna spray the hamster wheel with graphite spray though...too slick I'm suppose...
Q.
A drop of STP in the blue bottle should take up some of the excess clearance. It's super sticky so it should stay on the bearing for quite some time. It also contains some antiwear addatives.
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Don't forget to change the filter once a year.
And don't forget to change the hamster about every 3 months. They don't turn the wheel fast enough when they get gold.
Don't forget to change the filter once a year.
And don't forget to change the hamster about every 3 months. They don't turn the wheel fast enough when they get gold.
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