“Dry January” – why restrict to 1 month in the year?

Another new year and another goal set of saying goodbye to alcohol and starting on the “dry January” quest. Most people begin with the best intentions, but in all honesty, how many people stick to this? For igus® “dry January” is something that doesn’t just stop as soon as February begins and here you will find out why…

Dry January – why do we do it?

Dry January was introduced as a way of people detoxing after an indulgent Christmas period.

According to Wikipedia, It was introduced by Alcohol Change in 2013, and in January 2022 over 130,000 people signed up to this campaign.  

With a new year, people want to reset their minds and bodies, and having a detox from alcohol has become an increasingly popular way of achieving this. The idea surrounding this “need” for alcohol when socialising can be quashed, with many of us cutting alcohol out for the entire month of January. There are many health benefits for this, such as increased energy, feeling less de-hydrated and can even be linked with decreasing depression levels in some cases.

How does this relate to igus®?

Taking the term “dry January” and relating it to igus® products is obviously a play on words. As you know, igus® products are all lubrication- free, no grease or oil required, so these “dry” running products fit perfectly into this topic. Just like removing alcohol from our bodies, removing the need for lubrication increases service life, decreases wear and in turn can be more cost- effective. We all want to save money, on a personal level and as a business, so with the added benefits mentioned, “dry running” products are becoming more and more popular.

Benefits of “dry running” components in depth

A lot of people are still unsure about products that require no lubrication, so here are more details as to some of the benefits over metal counterparts.

Part of the igus® business is known as “dry-tech”. This is the umbrella term for products such as: iglidur® plain bearings, igubal® spherical bearings, drylin® linear guides and rails, to name a few and as the name implies, these parts are all “dry” running and are designed to improve “technology” or “tech”.

The main advantages of dry running are:

• Increases service life
• Corrosion resistant
• Maintenance- free
• Clean
• Lightweight

Increases service life

Not having to lubricate parts can help increase machine reliability as well as lower costs. Being lubrication- free decreases the maintenance required which means considerably less downtime and any downtime can be planned.  Designing service life calculators ensures that you, as the customer, are in control over how long your parts will work for in the machine based on the application parameters you set.

Corrosion resistant

With iglidur® materials, by their nature they are corrosion-free. Within the range of iglidur® materials we have, we have some that are specifically designed and developed to be even more resistant than others, such as resistant to acids and cleaning agents.

Maintenance-free

Dry running, as we have established means no lubrication which eliminates the need for regular maintenance work, so similar to increasing service life it reduces the need for maintenance.

Clean

iglidur® polymers consist of base polymers for wear resistance, fibres and filling materials to reinforce the bearings and solid lubricants to self-lubricate the bearings and prevent friction in the machine or system. Thanks to the solid lubricants any requirement for additional lubrication like oil and greases is removed, ensuring the components always remain clean. This is an advantage not only for the machine but for the environmental impact.

Lightweight

This feature of igus® products is linked to all the previous features discussed. Being manufactured from a polymer material instead of metal allows the weight to be drastically lower, increasing service life, reducing maintenance and generally reducing the weight within your machine. All positive.

So, despite “dry January” being restricted to a month once a year, the igus® promise is to continue always ensuring the dry running properties throughout all products all year round. You can read more about iglidur® products here