Re: [ATM] Re: Lubricating a worm-with what?

[Woodchuck <djv@bedford.net>]

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004, Tom and Beth wrote:

> Looks like there are several schools of thought on the "best" lubricant on a
> worm gear. From Assembly lube to lithium grease to plain old vaseline.
>
> If it matters, this is a Byers Aluminum gear with a stainless stell worm.
> Low temps around here may get into the 20s, but highs are hundreds and
> teens.
>
> I'm leaning towards using assembly lube, applied with a toothbrush, but it
> never hurts to ask here first.
>
> Tom
> Tucson, AZ

A possibility -- easily obtained retail -- would be a gun grease
intended for field use, which is about the temperature range you
mention.  "Tetra Lube" is available as a grease or an oil and as
the name implies is loaded with teflon.  It is particularly good
for friction situations involved metals that tend to gall, which
is a condition on modern firearms.  Combinations of stainless steel
and aluminum with themselves and with each other in sliding friction
are among these, and are pretty much the same as a worm and wheel.
This stuff is sold at nearly all gun shops.

Do NOT use this on plastics.  (Ask me about the swollen, ruined,
jammed focusing mount on my spotting scope...)  Vaseline is for
plastics, I learned in bitter retrospect.  Nothing is probably
even better than Vaseline for plastics.

Dave
-- 
        In each of us, there burns a soul of a woodchuck.
        In every generation a few are chosen to prove it.

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