keeping o-rings lubed up, what to use?

what's the best stuff to use to keep the o-rings in my flashlights lubed up and running smoothly, most manufacturers say to use silicone grease/lube, but where can i find it, can i use petroleum jelly (Vaseline) instead?

the lights are Mag instrument products, the Inova X series, and a SureFire 6P and G2

No, use silicone grease. Try Ace Hardware.

Nyogel from lighthound.com.

Parker-O-Lube, an aircraft quality o-ring lubricant.

'Got' it from work.

Or check any dive shop or boat shop.

Yooper said:

No, use silicone grease. Try Ace Hardware.

Click to expand...

Aha!, and there's an Ace just down the road, brilliant!, time for a road trip....

Yooper said:

No, use silicone grease. Try Ace Hardware.

Click to expand...

I bought the same type silicone grease in the plumbing department at Home Depot. It was sold in the same style container as the Ace grease in your photo.

Heh, where to go then, both Ace and Home Despot are the same travel time away (in opposite directions)

Ace is a small local shop, i prefer supporting local business if i can, however Ace is in Maine, and as such, i'd have to pay the 5% sales tax

Home Despot is in New Hampshire, has no sales tax, but is a faceless, soulless megacorporation, hence evil (less evil than wally-world, but stil evil)

i think it's worth it to hit Ace, just to put the screws to a megacorp....

yes, yes, i know, Ace is *also* a chain store, but not evil.....

Don McLeish (McGizmo) swears by this stuff for his McLuxIII-PD:


http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.c...products_id=710

Might want to give it a try. Wayne is just beginning to offer it, since it is really hard to find.

--Bob

P.S. Just verified the site, and it shows up as "Product Not Found." Check back later to see if Wayne has restocked. It's called Krytox 50/50.

The URL doesn't work. This one does:

http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/index.php?cPath=48_80&osCsid=f954ec9a7e73cbdd091cb54d93145547

EDIT: nevermind, different product, don't know what's it for...

Literator said:

Don McLeish (McGizmo) swears by this stuff for his McLuxIII-PD:


http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.c...products_id=710

Might want to give it a try. Wayne is just beginning to offer it, since it is really hard to find.

--Bob

P.S. Just verified the site, and it shows up as "Product Not Found." Check back later to see if Wayne has restocked. It's called Krytox 50/50.

Click to expand...

Krytox 50/50 back in stock! Click on the link above.

--Bob

I use this. $17 from West Marine boating supply. It's expensive but it'll probably last forever!

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=98285

I seem to remember researching this a few years ago when I first joined the cpf forums. My recollection is that a teflon based product is better than a slicone product (which I thought, to my recollection, could adversely affect rubber o rings). Any way I have been using something called "syncolon" that I bought at radio shack with good results.
Did I get it wrong back then or has something changed in the interim?

I've been using the run of the mill silicone grease from Ace Hardware for a couple years. I have had no problem with it except that the container it comes in really sucks. One day I saw a few different lip balmy products right next to the cash register at the drug store. The containers were made of heavy glass and the right size so I bought one and cleaned it out and put the grease from Ace in it. It cost me about $1.25 which is still less than shipping would be for a different brand.

I've often thought that buying it in a plastic tube would be ideal as I could just poke a tiny hole in the end and squeeze it into place instead of using a toothpick.

Personally I use MAGNALUBE on everything. The stuff works great.

Magnalube.com

Yaesumofo

Using this silicone grease stuff, can you keep your o-rings from drying out, cracking (and whatever else rubber is susceptible to) indefinitely?

yaesumofo said:

Personally I use MAGNALUBE on everything. The stuff works great.

Magnalube.com

Yaesumofo

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I've used Magnalube as well, and it works well. You can pick up 4 small tubes of it (about a lifetime's worth!) at their website for a decent price.

--Bob

I use Bulb Grease which is available at most auto parts stores.

carrot said:

Using this silicone grease stuff, can you keep your o-rings from drying out, cracking (and whatever else rubber is susceptible to) indefinitely?

Click to expand...

Some of that, but probably not ALL of that. If you're using twisties in a sandy environment the o-rings will be sanded away at a greater or lesser rate, depending on how often you are willing to clean the abrasive material out. The same is somewhat true if you use your light(s) in weird places where the rings may be attacked by some chemicals present in those environments.

In this Golden Era of the LED, with technological advances and new lights and light companies coming and going so quickly it's a good idea to take care of the o-rings in your lights the best way you can. When you need a new o-ring nothing else will do. If the company's out of business it can be a real PITA trying to find the right o-rings in small enough quantities.

I usually order extra o-ring kits when I purchase the lights just in case they become unavailable in the future. (Nightcutter comes to mind)

Anyway, I think that most would agree that while they won't last forever, caring for your o-rings will usually make them last much longer, especially in twisties.

EDIT: The lube also can make all the difference in the world in the way the lights feel, too.

i am amost postive that silicons are the natural enemy of rubber and plastics, and thusly cause their eventual breakdown.

most automotive stores sell 3m rubber protecter this will help preserve rubber but it dosn't provide long lasting lub (the stuff goes into the rubber it tries clean)

the other stuff (non silicon) recomended here should work