[GreenKeys] whale oil

[John Nagle]

On 1/26/2012 9:03 AM, greenkeys-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:09:06 -0600
> From: Adrian Stoness<tdk.knight at gmail.com>
> Subject: [GreenKeys] whale oil
>
> can one still buy the stuff i hear its prolly the best thing i could use on
> my asr33?

    No, you can't get whale oil any more in the US.  The
ASR-33 was rather late for whale oil era, too.

    We use a low-viscosity synthetic motor oil.
Valvoline 5W-20 works well.  It's a few dollars for
a quart at larger auto parts stores.  The synthetic
oils are more stable.  Petroleum-based oils tend to
turn stiff over time as the volatile fractions
evaporate.

    Do not use WD-40.  That's not a machine oil.
It's a penetrating oil for loosening rusted bolts
and such.

    I work on older machines only (models 14 and 15 era),
which are all-steel and were intended for a routine cleaning
process which involved immersion in a solvent.
The 33 has plastic parts, some nylon gears, and electronics
all over the place, so you can't just dunk it in solvent like
the older models.

				John Nagle