Please recommend a flashlight grease for dummies (ie me)

Harbor Freight carries Superlube.

http://www.harborfreight.com/85-gram-super-lube-grease-cartridge-93744.html

i'll get the nextorch stuff! ( ordering the original superlube from AmazonUSA or ebay costs lotsa shipping. nextorch shipping is free. says the budgeteer. *ggg* )

I was going to suggest Harbor Freight, but then I checked and didn't see Harbor Freight with any stores in Canada. That's where I bought mine. I actually bought it for another purpose, but when I came across a thread where atbglenn posted about using it on flashlights I was glad I already had it!

-Garry


Is it electrically conductive? I read in it's specs that it's thermally conductive but I can't find anywhere that it's electrically conductive.

If the grease says dielectric, it is non-conductive (electrically). I'm not sure if that's important to you or not. You may not want to grease the crap out of your threads with a dielectric grease or you're going to be creating problems with your tailcap connections.

======================================================================

Dielectric grease

Dielectric grease is a nonconductive grease. As such, it does not enhance the flow of electrical current. Dielectric grease is, however, often applied to electrical connectors, particularly those containing rubber gaskets, as a means of lubricating and sealing rubber portions of the connector.

The widest use of dielectric grease is in high-voltage connections associated with spark plugs. The grease is applied to the rubber boot of the plug wire. This helps the rubber boot slide onto the ceramic insulator of the plug. The grease also acts to seal the rubber boot, while at the same time preventing the rubber from becoming stuck to the ceramic. Generally spark plugs are located in areas of high temperature, and the grease is formulated to withstand the temperature range expected.

Another common use of dielectric grease is on the rubber mating surfaces or gaskets of multi-pin electrical connectors used in automotive and marine engines. The grease again acts as a lubricant and a sealant on the nonconductive mating surfaces of the connector. It is not recommended to be applied to the actual electrical conductive contacts of the connector because it could interfere with the electrical signals passing through the connector.

======================================================================

i use it on non-anno threads and it works fine. no conductivity problems for me.

I have been using Super-Lube since My first flashlight. I was almost out of the 1/2 ounce tube so I was reading on hear about lubes and I went to Lowes and got DuPont Teflon Multi-use Lubricant and there was DuPont Teflon Chain-Saver a waxed based chain lube so I bought both and tried them. I went to Harbor Freight and bought 2-3oz tubes that should last me forever. I didn't care for the DuPont products but that's just me.

Do you have hardware stores where you are? Super Lube is fairly common and easy to find here in the U.S. in Ace (National hardware chain), Home Depot, Sears Hardware etc.

I went to the Walmart...no SuperLube :( Nothing at all really, all they had was half a shelf of WD40 (with a free hockey puck - I live in Canada) and a few other aresol bottles like liquid wrench.

Tomorrow I will check the H-D then the Manafont order...then my goal to put this behind me will be over.

(Couldnt find any fishing-reel grease either...)

I'm no expert, but I've been using silicone grease that I found at Home Depot in the plumbing department for the last 6 - 8 months.

No problems here...

I've been using that Nextorch silicone and while it is great for o-rings, I hate what it does to threads. I'm thinking Mobil 1 might do the trick.

dirtythreadsFoy

oh oh, that sounds bad...what do you mean what it does to threads? I dont want to make my lights worse or take away the anodizing...or be harsh to the aluminum.

Id be very careful not to put any grease on the o-rings.

Fenix or someone should make a dedicated flashlight grease and that would that...In the Fenix video the guy has a 5 gallon jug of grease but they dont say what it is... :(

It's not a huge deal but I think there might be something better than silicone . . . or, maybe I could just keep it off the threads?

trilaanderrorFoy

Hey Foy. What's your problem with sil grease? I use it over a year now and found it to be perfect for threads and o-rings. Even Solarforce uses it on their flashlights. ;-)

They make non-anodized threads gritty. Black small particles will appear after some time.

my Quark has non-anodized threads and there is lots of black small particles. i thought it was aluminum.. but aluminum is silver, not black.

eventually i found out that it's rubber from the o-rings. lots of it.

i cant find any of the suggested synthetic lube stuff over here at my place (amazon shipping costs, no way). If Vectrex, who lives in G. too, uses nextorch sil grease on his torches, then i can do it too!

haha.

EDIT: i guess nobody knows a flashlight lube product on Dinodirect?? have some dinopoints left..

same xD

I too don' like the nextorch grease on not anodized threads... and is also hard to apply(very dense, I use a silicone brush used in optics) and come in a very small quantity with a lot of wrap..

Is there any website that ships Super Lube internationally at decent prices? Amazon wants to charge me close to $100 for shipping alone!

I tried stuff like nyo gel before and absolutely hated that stuff, it's like a very thin oil and goes all over the place. I had it on the battery, in the tailcap and even on my clothes. What I like in silicone based greases: that it stays in place if you apply it right (very thin film layer ... best use a Q-tip to apply), that it is colorless ... opposed to many mineral based oils, that it treats O-rings (which are also silicone mostly) right and that it is non-toxic for humans. So if you eating a sandwich while lubing your flashlight or accidentally tap on the threads during battery change... no biggie.. you won't poison yourself. Scuba divers trust their lives by this stuff... being unable to breath is very unhealthy. It's no coincidence that nextorch and many flashlight manufactures choose silicone based grease when they ship their lights. There might be products that do one or two aspects better than sil... but the whole attribute package is hard to beat... especially in the budget sector. I personally ordered original scuba dive grease off ebay, but only because nextorch wasn't available back then. A friend ordered the nextorch stuff and he seems pretty happy with it. The fastest way to get sil in Germany is to buy stuff for expensive coffee makers or scuba supply but I don't like the packaging. Scuba supplies are often 60 grams and more... way too much and the coffee supplies are in those tubes which get in the way of applying the sil thinly and the tubes often only contains 6 g... so too expensive.

Well I found one that will help some of you: Midway USA

They advertise this as a gun grease, but it's the same product. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on Shipping & Return and a pop up menu will appear, scroll down to near bottom and a list of European distributors appears. I checked a couple, but they are not in my native tongue. However, they all carry some manner of grease used for guns, which I have seen as a good substitute for flashlights according to many posts on the subject.

For others, I found a US seller that ships Super Lube overseas: Illumination Gear

(Also a new flashlight source for me!) Prices are reasonable and they offer flat rate USPS international shipping. Just click on the 'International Shipping' on the left menu.