Mechanical
Oil Seal
Retains lubricant inside a rotating shaft housing while excluding external contamination.
Oil seals ride against a rotating shaft at every point a reducer or motor shaft exits its housing, retaining internal grease while keeping dust, coolant, and moisture from the shop floor out of the mechanism.
These seals wear gradually from the friction of continuous rotation and from grease additive breakdown over time, and a worn seal typically shows up first as a small grease weep at the shaft before it progresses to a visible leak.
Because seal failure allows contamination in as readily as it allows grease out, a leaking seal is treated as a bearing or reducer life issue, not just a housekeeping problem.
Related components
Common questions
- What does the Oil Seal do?
- Retains lubricant inside a rotating shaft housing while excluding external contamination.
- How does the Oil Seal fail?
- Common failure modes: Lip wear from continuous shaft rotation over time, Hardening and cracking of the seal material with age, Grease leakage past a worn or damaged seal, Contamination ingress accelerating internal bearing or gear wear.