Copper Grease or Not?

[TernVI]

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I agree and for this reason it isn't a good idea to mix copper filled greases with stainless that is in a stressed location. I think ordinary grease would be fine. Try and minimalist the variety of materials in contact.

If it's stressed, it may be better to use a high tensile BZP bolt and change it when it gets tatty.

 

[RJJ]

That describes anhydrous lanolin, which has had any water and bits of sheep removed. Not arguing but I think Lanocote is A/L with added 'Yacht Tax'

That was my guess also.

 

[Poey50]

That was my guess also.

It's fun to make these assumptions but it would be surprising to me if a well-established business such as Windpilot, which has gone through much development over several decades in a competitive market, hadn't twigged that they were using an unnecessarily expensive product. So I'm keeping an open mind and will continue with my hard smelly tub.

 

[stuartwineberg]

Haven't tried this yet, is it as messy as Duralac?

No. Its a white gel like substance not dissimilar to vaseline and comes in a syringe with a little brush attached. You can syringe it in or dip the brush into the main body of the gel in the syringe barrel. Very expensive (American import) but goes on forever. AFAIK doesn't go off like duralac

 

[ghostlymoron]

I like lanolin. It's cheap as well as sheep.

Is there much meaningful difference, for our purposes, between lanocote and lanolin?

Lanolin is a greasy substance found on sheep's wool, lanocote is a brand name .

 

[Stemar]

Thanks everyone. A4 bolts and anhydrous lanolin it is. I have a couple of tubes of Duralac on board, but they're waiting for me to dig them out and bin them. I dislike that stuff intensely - while it's still good, it gets everywhere then, when you need it, it's gone solid and you have to buy another lifetime's supply

 

[Bilgediver]

It's fun to make these assumptions but it would be surprising to me if a well-established business such as Windpilot, which has gone through much development over several decades in a competitive market, hadn't twigged that they were using an unnecessarily expensive product. So I'm keeping an open mind and will continue with my hard smelly tub.

I hope you rub some on your prop before lifting in! Gives you hands that are soft.......... Plus the barnacles find it difficult to stick.

 

[gus]

Might I also suggest Ramonol wheel bearing grease which I believe is waterproof.

 

[vyv_cox]

Copper and Stainless are not a good mix. Some grades suffer badly from inter-granular penetration by the copper in the grease which affects the structural integrity of the bolts after time, some less so but when I worked on Reactor systems in the 70's We weren't allowed to use our own tools in case we'd had them in contact with copper, brass or bronze.

I only know intergranular penetration of one metal by another at elevated temperatures. Well, maybe mercury might be an exception. Are you saying it happens at ambient temperatures?

 

[Topcat47]

Hi Vyv,

I'm not a metallurgist, but we were all paranoid about contamination of SS by Copper in reactor systems, not just HT and HP systems and it spread to all aspects of SS work. I left that field in '73 and didn't get involved with it again until '98 and then is was in management.

 

[RichardS]

Hi Vyv,

I'm not a metallurgist, but we were all paranoid about contamination of SS by Copper in reactor systems, not just HT and HP systems and it spread to all aspects of SS work. I left that field in '73 and didn't get involved with it again until '98 and then is was in management.

Whatever you do, don't use stainless steel nuts and bolts without copper grease or similar. If you do, eventually you will experience galling and, as I have found out, that can certainly be an extremely galling experience.

Richard