Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again)

[Eric Korpela]

On Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 2:53 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:

> I did some research among the antique fan collectors on the web.
> Here's what's been recommended, in no particular order:
>

And if you're looking to preserve an extremely valuable museum piece and
need the ultimate in non-reactive oil or grease, a perfluorinated polyether
(PFPE) "oil" or one with PTFE nanoparticles is virtually guaranteed not to
react with anything you might find a computer.  But it is very pricey.  $25
a gram for Brayco 815z "oil" and $28 a gram for Braycote 601EF or 602EF
(with MoS2).  The solvent you need in order to remove them is $0.25 a
gram.   But a gram of this stuff goes a long way.  I'd go with 602EF for
fan bearings.

But it does somewhat reduce the need to worry about what happens if the
"oil" gets hot or hits rubber or paper or plastic.  It doesn't dry out,
evaporate, or gum up at normal temperatures, since it's teflon and
molysufide microbearings in liquid teflon.  I wouldn't buy it to use for a
personal machine unless it was one of a kind, or someone at the lab was
throwing out a tube of out-of-date braycote.  (Which hasn't been the case,
I don't have a personal stash).