Recommended lubricant?

scollins · #1 10-04-2005, 10:29 AM

What lubricant do you all recommend for things like the bushings in the aileron bellcranks, rod end bearings, etc? (Ken Scott's response to my question was "We don't have a recommendation, per se. Any light oil oughta work.")

sprucemoose · #2 10-04-2005, 11:13 AM

LPS-1, in a spray can ala WD-40, available at any hardware store.

Mel · #3 10-04-2005, 11:21 AM

Ahah! You have hit upon a sore point with me. Read this: WD-40 is NOT a lubricant! It is, as the name says, a water dispersant. It will lubricate immediately upon application but will then evaporate leaving a film that will attract dust. This has to be one of the most missused products on the face of the earth. Off my soap box now, Sorry.
I think that maybe you were referring to WD-40 just with reference to the spray can. But just in case someone missunderstood.....
LPS-1 is fine. I prefer Marvel Mystery Oil.
Mel...DAR

sprucemoose · #4 10-04-2005, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mel

I think that maybe you were referring to WD-40 just with reference to the spray can. But just in case someone missunderstood

Yes, maybe I should have made that more clear. LPS comes in a spray can, very similar in design to the WD-40 can, with a plastic "straw" which attaches to the tip and is very handy for getting into tight places. I do not use or recommend WD-40.

Mel · #5 10-04-2005, 11:34 AM

Sorry, I wasn't picking on you. I knew what you meant. It's just that when I see the words lubricant and WD-40 on the same page, it just sort of jumps out at me. There are sooooo many people that consider it to be a lubricant.
Mel...DAR

Bryan Wood · #6 10-04-2005, 06:55 PM

Mel,

I read your response about WD-40 and it made a memory come back that should add to your list of WD-40 abuses. I'm still smiling while typing this. In about 1985 I worked for a small avionics shop and the owner was a master with the old Narco Mark 12 tube radios and there were still a good amount of people flying with them. When they would come in and leave their radios he would walk them out into the hanger and submerge them completely into an ultrisonic bath of hot WD-40. The radio would just cook overnight and get vibrated gently. The next morning he would hang the radio over the tank to let it drip the majority of the chemical off, then blast it with compressed air, wipe it down, and into the lab it went. As the tubes heated up in the radio after powering it up on the bench the smell in the shop was fantastic. All intermittent problems were gone forever, a crystal or two replaced and the deed was done. There was nothing that could get the slime off of the faceplate or out of the sleeve over the wire harness, but boy did they work great after his treatment! I remember thinking that somebody was eventually going to get really mad when they got their radio back and it was shiny and wet and smelly, but his reputation was one of "Tron God" when it came to the old radios. They came from everywhere for this. There were also a lot of airplanes on the field that when I would open the doors to pull a transponder or something smelled of WD-40. He was quite a character. In the lobby he had a sign that read "It has been said that for every radio a technician fixed right he loses one hair from his head." He would sit at his desk under this sign with the light shining off of his head completely void of hair.

Blue Skies,
Bryan 9A "Flyin The Flag"