Black Gritty Grease

MaverickNH

MaverickNH

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2012
Messages
159
Oh-oh... Newbie mistake!

I've wiped off the black gritty grease on all of my Made in China machines and accessories. Where can I buy some more to replace this unique protectant? ;)
 
You can use way oil like Vactra #2 or use ATF to protect those surfaces. I do not recommend using automotive oils or WD-40 to keep stains and corrosion away. Cosmoline stuff like what came on the machines gets in the way of using them correctly -- nasty sticky stuff...

There are also a bunch of proprietary snake oils out there if you really like to spend more money than necessary...
 
LPS-3 is good for semi-permanent storage. It goes on wet, becomes gelled quickly, doesn't dry out.
 
I use ATF to remove rust but I don't have any luck with it for preventing rust. In my climate metal starts rusting as some as you open the package. I've been considering trying wax.

Oil doesn't work if condensation sets on the surface because water is heaver then oil so it will lift the oil right off. Covering with oil then laying wood over the surface seems to help greatly. Covering with a oily even dry cloth helps. Best thing I've found is to hang a light over the surface to slightly heat it.
 
tertiaryjim said:
......That gritty grease was specially designed to fill gaps, big gaps of the china machines, and dampen vibration.
.............
Click to expand...
That gritty stuff is fallout from the smog they have over there. They are selling it too! In tubes of grease.

In reality, that gritty stuff is grinding grit, blasting sand that doesn't get cleaned up before applying that nasty smelling grease they use over there. I don't know if that is refined from oil product or if it is whale oil....Who knows... I've see that stuff in 5 gallon (Kg) buckets over there in my several visits there over the years.
 
When we mothball our training shop they mixed heavy grease with probably 30 weight oil. The main thing is to remove any rust then wipe oil&grease all over the surfaces with chop cloth or towels. If the tool is small enough I would suggest wiping it down then place it in a plastic bag so dirt and grit don't get on it.
 
That black sticky tar stuff they use for lubrication is the same stuff thats a bane of the mechanics in telescope (astronomical bigger-closer-makers)
mounts. I've rebuilt several of them over the past decade, and what a mess to clean up, it gets everywhere. After thorough cleaning, I use a synthetic teflon
enhanced grease called SuperLube. It works great even at minus 20 degrees (F) or at 130 degrees in the summer. These parts move very slowly though, from a
revolution per day all the way up to a couple of RPM's. The gears and bearings aren't under very great loads. 20-300 lbs, but arc-second precision and
bi-directionl repeatability is required. Not exactly like your normal shop tools except perhaps a rotary table? Does anyone in the machining
world use this stuff for anything?

CHuck the grumpy old guy
 
I believe it is a mix with wax, soap, & oil. I don't mind it. It depends on what it is on how I remove it. most surfaces I just scrap the thick off & use it. Other places I warm to allow it to run out or spray it with something that will dissolve it.

If I had some I'd use it but I have never seen any for sale.
 
Cosmoline is basically a grease that's rather crude, but there are two types, one stays soft and the other dries. For basic machine storage brush on any cheap soft grease and cover with a tarp, the problem is when an iron mass is cold during winter storage then warm moist spring weather moves in the humidity condenses on the machine, where you are storing something is an issue.
 
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