In my team’s kit toughbox mini gearboxes we used the kit included silicone grease. Because we took the gearboxes apart a number of times, to debug an issue we had, we feel we might not have enough grease in the gearbox. We also have a can of White Lithium grease that arrived after we started assembly of the robot.
We were thinking of adding some of the white lithium grease to the gearbox without washing the silicone grease out, because taking the gearbox apart is quite a significant process with our design right now.
Is it ok to mix grease types together in the same gearbox in an FRC environment? I’m told that in real world engineering it’s disliked, but I haven’t been able to get an answer when it comes to the load types that are found in an FRC robot’s drive system.
It depends on if the greases are compatible really…
But in all things necessary; you will be fine.
Just use more of the grease you plan on sticking with and do your best to open it up sometime during the comp. season to apply more grease.
As you mentioned, the proper thing to do is to dissassemble the boxes and wash all the old stuff off with mineral spirits or non-chlorinated brake cleaner and then apply your grease of choice. However in the case of the toughboxes, given their light duty you will probably be fine mixing the two. You really don’t need much grease on those gears so don’t go packing them full of the stuff. Too much grease will cause losses as the gears have to “pump” the stuff around inside. Generally a light coating is all you really need. I would bet your initial application of silicone grease is still plenty sufficient and that you likely don’t need to apply any more. I would be far more concerned about bits of grit and dirt in there from the multiple rebuilds without cleaning. Grease makes a great glue for sticking debris to gears.