by mrgnomer on Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:33 am If anyone knows why Dow 111 works better than other lubes or how lubes are affected by possible residue deposits, seal composition or conditions I'd be interested.
Sorry for the long story but this is what I found from personal experience using lubes other than Dow 111 and how ineffective they turned out to be. Since HB has a long standing serious lever forum I wanted to post details here rather than another forum.
Having had some spare time I pulled off and opened up my old Cremina 67 cylinder piston group and took her apart for a good cleaning and polishing. She's been kind of sticky lately. I thought cleaning, sanding then polishing the cylinder to a shine and cleaning off any varnish type coat on the piston seals and such and giving her a good lube would bring her back to free moving youth. All the seals were changed with stock Olympia seals less than a year ago so there was no need to change them again, just clean them.
I did brasso brass clean and polish to clean the cylinder walls. All the tarnish gone. I used dish soap to clean the seals and clean any brasso residue off the cylinder walls then sanded to 1500 grit and polished with a dremel. I washed everything very well with clean water to wash away any possible residues. I then lubed everything well with a teflon zinc oxide valve seal lube and put her together. She moved smooth and all seemed o.k.
After a couple uses, however, I found her getting stiff. Actually stiffer than before especially when cold. Took everything apart again and found the lube had gotten thick and tacky around the piston seals. This must have been the problem. Cleaned off the tacky lube and tried a U.S.P. mineral oil lube. Put her back togehter and everything was smooth again.
Couple days later same problem. Almost seized when cold. After warming up she moves easier but not as smoothly as I would have hoped.
Took her apart again. Same tackiness with the mineral oil lube. I'm figuring cleaning with brasso and dish soap probably wasn't a good idea. Maybe some residue was left behind that either reacted with the seals and melted them a bit which reacted with the lube or the residue was reacting with the lube. Or maybe it was the lube itself.
O.k. no dish soap this time. Cafiza to clean off the tacky lube and everything else. Good fresh water rinse and wipe and then a good cleaning. Make sure the seals are clean and dry with no tackiness. Luckily I'd ordered some replacement seals and gaskets to have on hand and Dow 111 lube.
I know I should have been using Dow 111 lube from the start. Other lubes are rated for incidental water contact not direct and Dow 111 is what Olympia and everyone else who uses it recommends. When I had trouble finding it I tried the other lubes. I considered the health factor with alternate lubes and tried to use them sparingly. I never thought of the performance factor. I figured alternate lubes will work just as good, maybe better.
Not so. Maybe it was soap or brasso residue that messed up the other lubes but I don't think so. The wash out rate of Dow 111 from the start was crazy. I couldn't get it off my hands or other surfaces with just a quick wash rinse and wipe. This stuff sticks and doesn't wash out. Since it's rated safe for food contact I felt free to use a little more. From the start the action with Dow 111 is easy and smooth. After bringing the Cremina up to operating temp a couple of times and pulling shots the action remains smooth and easy.
Olympia is right, IMHO, in recommending Dow 111. My sticky seized old Cremina is now moving as easily as my new plastic lined cylinder Europiccola. Dow 111 is worth the investment.
