[HAM] CV - Starter motor not engaging TG - follow up

[OF]

Everything you said makes perfect sense to me. I still tend to think that 
engineers at Hammond like Alan Young and John Hannert knew exactly what 
they were doing (look at the product they designed), but I can find nothing 
to dispute in the info you posted. Darn it. Supposedly, the cure for the 
WD-40 residue is the addition of Hammond oil, which reportedly displaces 
any residue. I have no way of knowing if that is true or not.

And yes, I was cranky about something else yesterday too, so sorry I 
reacted like a mangy street dog.


At 07:30 AM 4/21/2007, David Anderson wrote:

>The people who make sintered bronze bearings state that they should
>be lubricated with a fairly pure oil--no additives (they recommend
>"turbine oil"), and the people who manufacture WD-40 state that their
>product should not be used on such bearings. WD-40 is for things like
>steel tools where it's good to leave behind a protective layer to
>prevent rust. Think of porous bronze bearings as a metal sponge. If
>you clog up the tiny holes in it, it doesn't work like it's supposed to.
>
>If you look at the MSDS for WD-40, the main ingredient is "aliphatic
>petroleum distillates," i.e., solvents, but it also contains stuff
>that isn't needed for cleaning bearings and may be detrimental.
>
>What makes intuitive sense to me is what Steve Leigh describes: You
>need a pure solvent to dissolve gum and varnish, and it stands to
>reason that if a solvent is holding other chemicals in solution, it
>won't be as effective as a pure solvent. Once the gunk is gone, you
>don't want to leave other gunk behind. Then, you want an oil that
>contains as little of whatever eventually becomes gum and varnish as
>possible.
>
>I recently soaked a poorly-performing Leslie horn bearing (also
>porous bronze) in hardware store alcohol and then blew it out with
>compressed air. The first blast of air blew all kinds of brownish
>crap out of the bearing, and I repeated the process till it blew
>clear. After being re-oiled, it works perfectly.
>
>And I apologize, Scott, if I came off as snotty. It's the end of the
>semester, and I'm in paper-grading hell. My interest is solely in the
>longevity of these instruments.
>
>David Anderson
>
>P.S. I hate the smell of WD-40 ;-)