White Lithium grease?

I faced a similar problem with a mini-lathe. I assumed that whilst the usual slideways lubricants etc could be used on metal parts, the plastic gears etc could suffer if the wrong mineral based lubricants were used. In the end I found a "soap based lithium grease" sold for use on cars (door hinges etc) - and I have used that with no noticeable problems.

James

Grease sold for propellor stern tubes on boats is often white, and I believe lithium based. Whether that fits the description closely enough I couldn't tell you. It's supposed to work better in wet/underwater conditions than ordinary greases.

Cheers Tim

Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service

No help to you I suppose, but I've bought two NOS Bison lathe chucks recently, both of these have the scrolls lubricated with a whitish grease. I don't know what it is, don't think it's the same as stern tube grease, but I do know it works as an evil magnet for fine brass/bronze swarf :-(

Cheers Tim

Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service

Go to your local Halfords/car place and look for "Castrol LM" grease or lithium grease. It's quite common as a general purpose bearing grease.

Mark Rand RTFM

Yes, I've got a tin of Duckham's Keenol : lithium and zinc oxide (zinc oxide makes it white) that came from a marine supplier.

-adrian

This might be the point. Another one (but ... umm .. without much effect here) is, that lithium-soap grease is water resistant. And it has a nicer look, compared to a MoS2-grease. :-)

Nick

Thanks all for the replies. Model engineers seem an adaptable crowd and I did wonder if other stuff might be suitable. I think the spray stuff would probably evaporate before it did any good. Cheers and thanks again Steve

Steve, the white lithium grease I got at my local store here in BC, Canada, came in a spray can! Has one of those red extension tubes so is very handy for sticking in holes and lubricating whatever's inside (now, now lads. Wags finger.) There are some great web sites devoted to the mini lathes as well as some Yahoo Groups, all sorts of mods and improvements you can do yourself.

On plastic, mineral-based greases will result in embrittlement over a period. Use the special greases used for video/dvd gears.

Castrol used to do a white brake grease that had lithium in it.

Good advice (some plastics better than others). Also, lithium greases are not especially water resistant, calcium greases are better. Lithium greases have a higher melting point though so are more suitable for things like car wheel bearings. Silicone lubricants are generally safe with plastics, but not so effective on metal as mineral oils.

RS Components product number 463-8413 is a white lithium grease - sprays on fluid, then sets to form a thick lubricating layer. £3.63 per tube. See -

John Ambler Sussex, UK Return E-mails to snipped-for-privacy@skiprat.net