Oiling Old Mechanisms

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by russell_w_b

t if WD40 is sprayed into a film canister or similar, it separates over a few days into two components: a gungy, heavy bottom layer and a fine solvent top layer which may be used sparingly. I have never tried this.

Not sure I'd describe it as "gungy", I suspect it is still thin compared with say 3in1. I had a full can of WD40 which lost all of its gas, so I pierced it and transferred the contents to a jam jar. I sometimes apply droplets by dipping in the tip of a jeweller's screwdriver to transfer it.

B

[paulsherwin]

WD40 is just white spirit mixed with a small quantity of machine oil. The resultant low viscosity fluid can then be sprayed onto surfaces as a mist. The white spirit evaporates leaving a film of relatively viscous mineral oil covering the surface. That's how it works as a corrosion inhibitor, its original design purpose.

[Bazz4CQJ]

I've just found this Youtube video testing different releasing agents. It does seem to confirm that most of these products have the about the same effectiveness (my own experience), though the prices vary considerably. The American "Liquid Wrench" did well.

Dated 2018, I've never seen it before https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUEob2oAKVs.

Note the safety warning about acetone/ATF.

B

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

WD40 is just white spirit mixed with a small quantity of machine oil. The resultant low viscosity fluid can then be sprayed onto surfaces as a mist. The white spirit evaporates leaving a film of relatively viscous mineral oil covering the surface. That's how it works as a corrosion inhibitor, its original design purpose.

I remember my Dad used to claim that WD40 was developed for NASA for use on the space programme.

I'm not sure about it, but certainly the older cans used to have a rocket on the can.

[paulsherwin]

The original formula was developed in 1953 to stop Atlas nuclear missiles going rusty. It may well have been used by NASA contractors subsequently. The formula may have changed over the years but is unlikely to be radically different.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40

[russell_w_b]

Originally Posted by Bazz4CQJ

Not sure I'd describe it as "gungy"

It is on the blades of a leaf shutter! Gungy is relative.

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by russell_w_b

It is on the blades of a leaf shutter! Gungy is relative.

True; I have compact digital with intermittent sticking lens covers; I'm currently trying prayer prior to lubrication .

B

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

Contact cleaner with lubricant is a very easy way to dislodge old grease and leave a thin film of lubricant. It is great on door hinges too.

Quite. Servisol with lubricant has got me out of trouble with light mechanisms many times. I don't know what the long-term effects might be though. I often ask my wife for some of her sewing machine oil, but she tells me her new machine did not come with any! WHAT? It's the end of an era!
Although Servisol works brilliantly on door hinges, you have to be very gentle on the button or you end up with an oily stain on the nearby wallpaper.

[Hartley118]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

Contact cleaner with lubricant is a very easy way to dislodge old grease and leave a thin film of lubricant......I don't know what the long-term effects might be though.........

The first clock that I used Servisol on has been giving trouble free service for around a couple of years now - and of course we know that its lubricant film survives well on electrical contacts. I guess that its effectiveness arises from the mixture of volatile cleaning solvents and a light lubricant which endures long after the solvents have evaporated. If there were any adverse long term effects, I guess that we’d have seen it in its numerous contact cleaning applications by now.

Martin

[Welsh Anorak]

Back in the day, we used to get a small box of several different oils and greases from Hitachi for VCR lubrication. Each had a label such as FLOIL which meant very little! However, they were very useful, and Charlie used to find that a mixture of an oil and grease was perfect for sliding metal parts. Plastic components used a heavy black grease, probably molybdenum based.
One modern lubricant I've found useful is DFL (dry film lubricant) which is in an aerosol. It was perfect for a non-mechanical use - that of lubricating a plastic curtain rail.
The reason WD40 makes me shudder is when customers used to spray it into the flap of a VCR in the forlorn hope it would cure any problem such as a squeak or poor rewind. This would spell disaster as it did exactly what it was supposed to do - cover everything! They might as well have filled the machine with custard. It's the same as always - the right tool for the job.

[ionburn]

I am personally not keen on WD40 and tend to use Duck Oil instead.

This reminds me of an incident at work a good few years ago. A patient phoned in and said he had a problem with his computer and that it was not booting up. I suggested he bring it in and I would look at it (the department provided computer access to physically disabled people so on the fringes of our involvement). Other staff who knew him cringed in horror and said they would have nothing to do with it. I found out why when I found he had probably used an entire can of WD40 on the hard drive and the whole thing stunk! Needles to say I soon sent him on his way.

In another incident it was my fault as we were having problems with an electronic door lock sticking. After numerous tries to sort we called in a locksmith. He soon put me in my place as I had lubricated it (thin oil). He suggested it did not need it and that was causing a problem.

My favourite is some 3 in One graphited oil I have got. It's thin and leaves a grapite residue for longer term lubrication.

[russell_w_b]

Originally Posted by Bazz4CQJ

True; I have compact digital with intermittent sticking lens covers; I'm currently trying prayer prior to lubrication .

Plastic covers? PTFE aerosol lubricant any good?

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by russell_w_b

Plastic covers? PTFE aerosol lubricant any good?

Think the covers are metal. I took off the aluminum bezel, expecting the mechanism to come out (as shown on some Sonys on YouTube vids) but it didn't. I blew it quite hard with gas, and it is now appreciably better, not perfect. I'm very wary of applying any lubricant to it. As you said, in this territory, so many fluids could qualify as gunge.

B

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

The original formula was developed in 1953 to stop Atlas nuclear missiles going rusty. It may well have been used by NASA contractors subsequently. The formula may have changed over the years but is unlikely to be radically different.

Yes, there have been loads of 'specialist' dewatering products developed for military/aerospace applications: I remember some particularly-stinky stuff that a friend once had access to - he told me it was what they used on aircraft-carriers to spray on the planes after they'd been contaminated with sea-spray (airframe aluminium/magnesium etc alloys being particularly prone to electrolytic corrosion in moist, salt-rich environments).

A 'dewatering' product is rather different to a lubricant though - dewaterers should cause moisture to bead-up and roll off, then relatively quickly evaporate and leave the barest of oily traces behind as corrosion-inhibitors. As such, they're really not good as lubricants.