high temp thread lubrication?

Sep 04, 2009 22 Replies

I have recently acquired a large ceramic outdoor cooker. The top damper threads up and down to open/close. Temps inside can reach 800F, so the thread (3/4-10) needs some unusual lubrication. At the same time, you don't want anything that will drip onto the food, or dry up and flake toxic stuff onto the food.



These cookers have a recurrent problem with stuck top dampers. I am sure that some kind of anti-sieze or hi-temp grease must exist that will work.



Ideas?



GWE


Redesign so the damper actuating thread is exterior and does not get so hot. ie, thread - lever - pivot - damper

Graphite. Not toxic, stays put pretty well after initial application and running it up and down a few times.

You might also put some sort of lapping or grinding compound on it and run it up and down a few dozen times, then clean that off, to decrease the fit class of the thread, which should really be quite loose in this application, where there will be scaling and expansion issues.

Silicone grease. They sell food-grade stuff for meat grinders at restaurant supply places. The steam table pans work great for parkerizing, too,should you get into one.

Stan

Phillips Milk of Magnesia, you can buy it at most grocery or drug stores.

We have used it with great results for assembly/disassemble of heat treating fixtures.

You're kidding! Just goop it on there? Isn't that stuff runny?

Grant

No, really. We just dipped the end of the bold, and spun it down. It dries to a chalky powder and provides an excellent dry film lubricant like graphite, but is not only edible, but a lot less mess.

It dries after a bit.

"Grant" wrote: You're kidding! Just goop it on there? Isn't that stuff runny? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And what you have left over can be mixed with vodka to make Phillips screwdrivers.

"Edith! This is the milk of magnesia! I told you to bring me the Kaopectate!"

;-)

I tried to use Super Lube once as a flux for casting bullets. Silicone based I think. Just sat there in my casting pot.

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Wes

On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:24:45 GMT, the infamous Grant scrawled the following:

I'll bet an acid brush would be a good applicator for that goop.

-- It's a great life...once you weaken. --author James Hogan

On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:51:04 -0400, the infamous Wes scrawled the following:

Oh, that's the stuff I was thinking of, not Tri-Flow. I like Super-Lube better. It's like a white lithium spray grease on steroids. It was thick and lasted forever.

-- It's a great life...once you weaken. --author James Hogan

800F? Are you sure?

I use AMSOIL X-Treme Synthetic Food Grade Grease in the coffee roaster, but it's not rated for any 800F.

Vodka and orange juice is called a Screwdriver.

So, vodka and prune juice must be a Piledriver.

Joe Gwinn

RCM only

On Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:18:10 -0400, the infamous Joseph Gwinn scrawled the following:

Mix sloe gin, Southern Comfort, vodka, orange juice, and Galliano. Shake over cracked ice.

Voila, a slow but comfortable screw up against the wall.

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Man, that takes me back a few years into another life entirely...

-- It's a great life...once you weaken. --author James Hogan

Would talcum power (soap stone) work?

I think talc would work. As I remember it takes a higher temperature than 800 degrees F to change talc to steatite.

Dan

wrote( I think talc would work. As I remember it takes a higher temperature than 800 degrees F to change talc to steatite. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If that's the case, then just rub the threads with one of your soapstone markers. (I assume that Xmilker is right that talc is soapstone) )And if it's not, maybe it would still work--it has a slippery feel.)

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