Lubrication for flashlight

Can someone recommend a type of lubrication for flashlights. Right now I'm using a silicon based grease (white) it is the one used on CPU (heat sink compound). I have plenty of this and it is not cheap. I hope it is OK.

Check out the Lube/Grease sticky in the Flashlights Forum...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/242414

jp2515 said:

Check out the Lube/Grease sticky in the Flashlights Forum...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/242414

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I just checked the string. My Jetbeam ( I think ) has silicon o-rings so I hurried to clean, it was on for about 2 hours.
I'm in Mexico so I won't find any of the good lubes. and I'm going camping tomorrow, so I will have to use what I have available at home I have Vaseline, motor oil, castor oil, castor oil for 2 cycle engine, synthetic oil for 2 cycle engine, joint grease. Ball bearing grease, sewing machine oil and a whole bunch of silicon based grease including fishing reel grease, which one would you use for tomorrow?:thinking:

You don't want to be using thermal grease for a lubricant. The tend to be chock-full of very hard, possibly abrasive stuff.

If it's a silicone-base thermal grease, and you've been using it for a while without issue, then I'd use the fishing reel grease to hold you over until you can get something better.

If you havn't been using it on that light for long, then you're probably safe using the vaseline, motor oil, or ball bearing grease until you can get something better.

My personal recommendation is to get some Krytox or Super Lube. They're both in the Very Good category of the Lube Sticky.

Of those choices palo, I think I'd go with the synthetic 2 cycle oil, sparingly.

One things for sure, silicone grease eats up silicone O-rings. At the same time, some petroleum based greases eat up rubber O-rings. Please, don't ask how I know this.

For future lubrication, put some Nyogel or Krytox on your wishlist.

Dave

IIRC, Nyogel has a silicone base, so you might want to keep it away from silicone.

Tekno_Cowboy said:

You don't want to be using thermal grease for a lubricant. The tend to be chock-full of very hard, possibly abrasive stuff.

If it's a silicone-base thermal grease, and you've been using it for a while without issue, then I'd use the fishing reel grease to hold you over until you can get something better.

If you havn't been using it on that light for long, then you're probably safe using the vaseline, motor oil, or ball bearing grease until you can get something better.

My personal recommendation is to get some Krytox or Super Lube. They're both in the Very Good category of the Lube Sticky.

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Thank you. the silicon based lubricant was on for about 2 hours before I read thread and took off very carefully.

Tekno_Cowboy said:

IIRC, Nyogel has a silicone base, so you might want to keep it away from silicone.

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I don't know for sure, but if Nyogel does have a silicone base, it could be that the solvent ability is deactivated somehow. I don't recall anybody having issues with Nyogel.

EDIT: As Lux pointed out below, there have been some bad results using Nyogel

Dave

I'm kind of leaning towards pure castor oil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil
It seems to be good for silicone o-rings: http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/oring/oring_chemical.cfm?SM=none&SC=Castor%20Oil
And also natural rubber o-rings: http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/oring/oring_chemical.cfm?SC=none&SM=Natural%20Rubber#chem
And it is also good for your health: (FDA) has categorized castor oil as "generally recognized as safe and effective" (GRASE) for over-the-counter use as a laxative, with its major site of action the small intestine.[17] However, although it may be used for constipation, it is not a preferred treatment.[18] Undecylenic acid, a castor oil derivative, is also FDA-approved for over-the-counter use on skin disorders or skin problems.
Any comments on this? Thanks.

Wrong location to start this thread....has nothing to do with batteries.

45/70 said:

I don't recall anybody having issues with Nyogel.

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Then you didn't read the pinned thread in General section.

I have 2 tubes of Nyogel 779ZC & 759G and won't use either of them. My general favorite for most lights remains St. Claires Nano-Oil, with Finish Line "Extreme Fluoro" brand of Krytox also being an excellent choice. There are some lights I prefer one over the other.

LuxLuthor said:

Then you didn't read the pinned thread in General section.

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You're right. I was not aware of that. :candle: I will edit my post.

Little particles in lubes bother me though. Still, when my "stuff" ARC mania sent me runs out (about a 5 year supply), I may try the Nano-Oil, since it's so well recieved. Then again, so was the Yugo.

Dave

Picking grease can be a religion, bur really most will do for the short term. Even bacon /other-meat grease (easy to come by when camping, who wants to carry lube with them?).

Decent quality sythetic rubber or silicone should not erode away from petroleum based lubes, in automotive use this is done and it's life/death/lawsuit/decades experience type scenarios. I would look for better o-rings if that happens as it might anyway.

If you have unanodized threads then, and only then, might heatsink grease be a good choice for a period of a few battery swaps as it will micro polish the threads. Some greases even polish better (deeper I mean) than metal polish does.

J_C said:

Picking grease can be a religion, bur really most will do for the short term. Even bacon /other-meat grease (easy to come by when camping, who wants to carry lube with them?).

Decent quality sythetic rubber or silicone should not erode away from petroleum based lubes, in automotive use this is done and it's life/death/lawsuit/decades experience type scenarios. I would look for better o-rings if that happens as it might anyway.

If you have unanodized threads then, and only then, might heatsink grease be a good choice for a period of a few battery swaps as it will micro polish the threads. Some greases even polish better (deeper I mean) than metal polish does.

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I can't understand why nobody has said anything good or bad about Castor oil.

Here is what I have found so far about pure castor oil:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil

It works well with silicone o-rings: http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/oring/oring_chemical.cfm?SM=none&SC=Castor%20Oil

It works well with natural rubber o-rings: http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/oring/oring_chemical.cfm?SC=none&SM=Natural%20Rubber#che m

It has been used on aluminum engines for a very long time.

FDA has categorized as safe.

Here is a good article on castor oil: http://www.go-cl.se/castor.html
It has gum build-up on engines but that is because the constant burning of fuel and accumulation of oil. It is bio degradable and safe to use, can be cleaned or diluted with alcohol,

Safe is important to me because I put my flashlight in my mouth to hold sometimes and don't want to have to wash hands every time I change batteries or something. I put this oil on my Jetbeam and has worked great so far; I would like someone else to give me there opinion, good or bad.
All everybody can talk about is toxic lubricants with fancy names.

I put my flashlight in my mouth regardless of what lube was used, there is no common lube harmful enough that a few molecules would matter, remembering it's on the threads not on the exterior to any significant degree.

What is probably more harmful is putting it in your mouth then not washing it off before the next time so there is bacterial growth.

I have no problem with castor oil, but think most people have something that will work well enough without having to buy an additional product for lubing unless they do a heck of a lot of lubing. There is also an argument to be made for a lube that doesn't break down if it would potentially be stored somewhere for years, vegetable oils and some others do break down and harden eventually, though by that point any battery would have self-discharged anyway.

Next we will be reading that someone uses ChapStick as their lube.

LuxLuthor said:

Next we will be reading that someone uses ChapStick as their lube.

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Betcha Carmex would work a charm

LuxLuthor said:

Next we will be reading that someone uses ChapStick as their lube.

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If it were all I had lying around... There's probably someone out there who has even tried water based sex lubes, unaware that it turns kinda gluey once the water evaporates away.

palomino77, if there is any more of this rubbish from you, you'll be taking a break from here.

Thread closed.