Please recommend a flashlight grease for dummies (ie me)

That Fawcett will never be greased again

Sadly, no... Cry

But as kreisler noted, there's always Fairchild Paste and Fonda Wax!

After asking about this lube and having not much of a response, I picked up some of the Contralube 770 lube today.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/contralube-770-connector-lubricant-346030

It's excellent clear synthetic grease with good consistency. I've applied it to the threads of one of my Solarforce L2P hosts with excellent results.

Highly recommended for us UK people!

i had asked the superlube company about the grey buildup in the suberlubed non-anodized bare aluminum threads (e.g. in Quarks or Klarus P1A) suspecting that the superlube oil would dissolve the unprotected aluminum and the answer i got was:

and yesterday the maker of Nano-Oil (a substance which i assume works a little better on unanodized aluminum threads) who is wary of making any kind of promises regarding the performance on unanodized aluminum threads commented:

Re: Comprehensive Grease and Lube Thread
Originally Posted by Nano-Oil.com
I do agree that my response was cryptic to a level, I do apoligize but there are reasons,
I cannot & will not promote Nano-Oil in CPF
ex: I always use the verbage "use a good anti friction lubricant of your choice"

From google cache one can see that 1 or 2 years ago he was selling Nano-Oil on cpfmp but then he stopped the dealer's subscription on cpfmp. In any case, as far as i can tell the original problem of

unanodized soft bare aluminum threads (male rubbing against female)

is still unsolved. But it's good to know that superlube does not dissolve the material. As stated earlier, superlube does kill the friction in the bare aluminum threads. Feels really good and smooth. (Not so good on Titanium threads, though). No wonder that nobody wants to promise anything or promote the oil further on CPF: we flashaholics are highly criticial (some with asperger's) and much of our Chin*se threads are just made of cheap aluminum quality. I'll continue to assert and promise that there is no lube on earth (< 20$) which solves the original problem to kreisler's satisfaction.

With typical lube (superlube, nanooil, silicone oil, etc.) we will always end up with grey crap in our unanodized aluminum threads. Simple as that. It's maybe comparable to the example of stainless steel kitchen countertops: when you try to clean/scrub the kitchen counter with a dishcloth, the dishcloth will end up grey from the stainless steel abrasion.

I really wouldn't worry about the grey gunk! You seem a little too concerned about it!

It will not effect the threads in anyway and the lube will still do it's job even if it's a different colour. The only slight annoyance is when you place the light down during cell change over, the discoloured lube will leave a mark (if your not careful) on surfaces.

Apart from that, just EMBRACE the grey gunk.

You don't like the color of your thread-gunk? Order now: "gunk coloration kit" from Dino Direct.

I use silicone RC car shock oil and or grease. I had a bunch of different thicknesses from years ago. Everything from really thin oil like to grease. I put on what I think I will like, if I dont, I wipe it off and put on a different one. You dont need PFTE or anything like that since there is no friction. Thickness is key. Each light responds different to the thickness. Any petroleum product will mess with the o rings.

There is friction when you are unscrewing or screwing the tail cap. as for he o-rings, I wouldn't worry too much about them. They are easily replaced and they are cheap.

I don't want to hijack the thread. Just a question.

I found I already have this Syon Lubit-8 at home. It contains Teflon.

Will it be gentle with o-rings?

Sould be ok, but this does contain Petroleum products, so no good for pure rubber o-rings.

I emailed the CEO of SuperDuper Lube. I asked why I felt a slick substance on my fingers after applying the grease to my threads. I thought it might be from the thermal break down of the molecular bonding agents or maybe the Teflon atoms were outgassing a strange form of hyper lubricity coagulating gel.
Here is his response: “it is because you got grease on your fingers, you freaking NERD! If you ever waste my time with your geeky emails again, I am going to come over to your house and crush your skull with a rusty tire iron. Get a LIFE!”.
Seemed kind of harsh but I see his point.

Sorry to dig this thread up but I am having a job finding some suitable grease for my L2P in the UK, it arrived completely dry. The battery end of the tube is bare aluminium and the other is anodized. Could I get away with some of this for the anodized parts/o-rings:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120822334806?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&amp;_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

And some vaseline for the bare alu? Or if anyone can point me to a teflon-based one that suits everything, is cheap and available in the UK that would be great!

As far as grease goes, I have been very happy with plumbers faucet grease, very cheap from the hardware store.

Maplin silicone grease.

Or what I use:

Engine oil dispensed from a syringe. SAE90 if you want to have sticky stuff - I'm using SAE 10-40 engine oil. Wipe off most of it and there will be enough left to do the lube thing. If you can't get a syringe or two, PM me. I work in a hospital.

If the threads are anodised and sloppy I use PTFE plumbers' tape. Works very, very well.And costs half of nothing!

I finally got my filthy hands on a tube of GREASE by Superlube:

And here my quick and final thoughts on it:

+ resembles the stuff which China factories use for pre-lubricating anodized threads and o-rings of production lights. it is very grease-like but clearly also has lubricating properties.

+ has physical consistency (viscosity and stickiness) very similar to cooled nivea or tooth paste

+ like toothpaste it is sticky and adheres well to any contacting surfaces but it is nowhere near as sticky, stiff and §$%&! as silicone grease: silicone grease is the worst regarding glue-like stickiness and "thickness" (but the very best for sealing threads and o-rings, no doubt!).

+ on bare aluminum threads it is 100% a nogo, especially if the aluminum threads are needed for twisty actions, such as quick turns back and forth for changing modes. on bare aluminum threads the grease's performance and results are as disastrous as with silicone grease. for twisty bare aluminum threads, such as Quark tactical UI, any light liquid oil is preferrable: Superlube Oil, or even better, Nano-Oil.

+ on anodized aluminum threads it does okay but that isnt surprising. on anodized aluminum threads one could even use yellow body fluid, soap water or nivea as lubrication. honestly wtf needs lubrication if the threads are anodized?

+ on twisty stainless steel threads it performs okay, acceptable. nothing to complain about, although there are better lubing alternatives on SS threads such as Superlube Oil or Nano-Oil. actually if the SS threads are cut clean you probably dont need any lubrication on the threads.

+ on titanium threads it performs as lousily as other lubes. save your hopes and dont buy it for its performance on ti threads. one clever way to improve threading action of ti threads is to cover the threads with candle wax. the less the ti threads get in contact with each other, the better. for everyone ;)

+ on o-rings it does a satisfactory job. it performs right between reduced friction (the best: Superlube Oil!) and sealing (the best: silicone grease), i.e. a good compromise between both worlds. in addition, once applied, the grease seems to last longer over time, while oils such as Superlube Oil and Nano-Oil rather thin out and vanish (evaporate lol?). O-rings lubed with Superlube Grease remain lubed after a long time whereas o-rings lubed with the oily substances get dry after a while and need to get oiled again to keep the o-rings fresh and juicy.

+ i dont like Superlube Grease ymmv

+ summary: Superlube Grease doesnt serve well to reduce friction in twisty action threads but as a general purpose flashlight lube it is a cost-effective compromise between a friction-reducing oil and a protective sealing grease.

+ if i had to choose just 1 lubing product for all of my flashlight threads and flashlight o-rings, i would choose Superlube Grease. has good price/yield and all-round versatility. doesnt smell, safe for interhuman use (eat, ..), is popular on cpf and usa, USA made product, etc

+ buy 1 tube and be done with the subject matter once and forever henceforth

I think I heard someone else mention the teflon tape. Would it work equally as well with anodized vs. non-anodized threads?

I wonder if it makes the threads waterproof? (it’s real job in the plumbing world)

The teflon tape is only $1 at any home improvement store.

I was wondering if anybody has tried White Lithium Grease. I had some leftover from my paintball craze. From what I found it was accepted as one of the best lubricants for the tank threads and o-rings in a paintball marker.

I use this stuff, although I got it for like $3 locally.

http://www.amazon.com/Panef-Corp-White-Lithium-Grease/dp/B000BXKZ4C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370236925&sr=8-2&keywords=white+lithium+grease+panef

**I got some of the “flashlight maintenance” grease from fasttech and it turned my non-anodized aluminum threads black as tar within a. couple minutes. that is not a good reaction. they turned gritty. it took a while to get that stuff off finally.

ok, I am a paintballer and for us lube is very important…

I will write you a list of lubes and if you wany details on any of them you can google them or ask me…

I have used all of them extensively on buna and urethane orings and on metal to metal theads.

1. Superlube synthetic multi perpose grease with ptfe

2. lurker lube (one of the best paintball lubes, fully synthetic, safe on any oring, with ptfe)

3. krytox gpl-205 (really expensive O2 safe staff)

4. slick honey also known as slickoleum (super slick staff)

5. dow 33 (low temp silicone grease used by almost any paintball gun manufacturer)

6. dow 111 (super thick and sticky staff used in some regulators and to achieve better sealing, also uses on scuba equipment like underwater cameras for sealing against water)

7. dow55 (silicone oring grease, swells oring slighly to achieve better sealing)

I am curently using Superlube on my flashlights as I have a ton of that staff…