This post had so much misinformation that I HAD to respond
1. Grease IS NOT a mix of oil and soap- there may be some versions that
have some soap, for various reasons, but even those few are balanced to
have benign characteristics for the metals they are to be used with.
2. Moly lubricants are not usually Graphite bearing- they use the other
plate-like solid lubricant- Molybdenum disulfide, hence the name "Moly"- in
addition, Graphite itself is not harmful to plastics, only the petroleum
vehicles may be.
Bill- W4BSG
At 06:25 PM 11/16/1999 +0200, you ( John ZS5JF) wrote:
>
>Hi Mike,
>
>Grease is a mixture of oil and soap! Soap's main constitutients are
caustic soda,
>lanolin or some-other fatty animal or synthetic oily material. Grease and
plastic often
>don't exist well together. I suspect that the black tar may be material
leeched out of
>the plastic, possibly carbonous based.
>
>Flush the gear box well with a benign solvent, such as kerosene (paraffin)
and then wash
>in hot soapy dish-washer liquid and dry in natural sun light. I have used
Castrol LM
>grease satisfactorily for other jobs. Avoid the Moly types as they
contain a high
>percentage of colloidal graphite which "loves" plastic!
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>John ZS5JF
-
Bill Aycock --- Persimmon Hill
Woodville, Alabama, US 35776
(in the N.E. corner of the State)
W4BSG -- Grid EM64vr
baycock@HiWAAY.net
w4bsg@arrl.net
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