Please recommend a flashlight grease for dummies (ie me)

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&_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…

Apologies for bumping an old topic, but I had to read a LOT to find this. Figured it may help other newbies out.

As far as “best” is concerned, I don’t know; however, I was waiting and waiting on my silicon grease from FT (seems to have been held up at HKP because of the batteries in the same order). The flashlight which I baked (cleaned all contaminates off of prior), its threads were getting rather rough so I figured I should look for an “in a pinch” solution. After reading the quoted post and subsequent replies I grabbed my teflon spray lubricant I use on my guns and went to town on my flashlight.

The threads are now smoother than they have ever been. I’m not sure if prolonged exposure will damage the O-rings or not, but the ones on it currently are cheap junk anyway. If someone can confirm teflon spray lube is fine on O-rings then I’ll promptly go about spraying all my lights asap. :slight_smile:

Old thread so a bit of a “nekro post” but went for superlube/oil/grease.
And this is one of these stupid post asking after ordered :slight_smile: is it still a good products to use or is there something much better “out there” to use?

Will come in handy after resurrection of a old maglite 6d and destroyed batteries that been lying and irritating for years :slight_smile:
Good amount of spares on eBay and went for a led bulb as well, going to be interesting to see how it appears as resurected from the “dead” and killing my bad conscience having it there in a cripled state all these years :slight_smile:

-lyse99

Some greases are electrically conductive, and work better on dissimilar metals.
NO-OX-ID is an electrical contact grease, claiming to do both,
along with being non-toxic, and even certified for use in the food industry.
You can get it at Illum.Supply.

Anybody tried ZX1 grease, I got a free sample today and have been giving it a go.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?126645-Comprehensive-Grease-and-Lube-Thread&p=5046847&viewfull=1#post5046847

John.

Ordered this:
https://www.fasttech.com/p/1333106
“High-grade Lubricative Heat-resistant Silicone Grease for Machine Printer”
Hope the aluminum will be okay with it.

Got my Super Lube grease and small tube of oil from a web based hunting store here in Sweden, no expert and never heard of this product before reading of it in this thread.

Used some on a very old maglite cap and that grease will get used on more stuff than flashlights, not so expensive either probably the cheapest thing I bought from a Swedish web store with no shipping cost :slight_smile:

-lyse99

I’m not a good reference for cheap grease. I use DuPont Krytox GPL215.
Wilkey

Has anybody ever tried this Noalox

It sounds like it’s comparable to NO-OX-ID.

Not sure because I have never used it, some research I did claims Noalox might get harder with the passing of time.
Quoting : “noalox which is an anti corrosive/anti seize which will get hard over time”

Also, its advertised for use inside and outside the joint. This makes me believe that it is a dielectric grease where as no-ox-id is electrically conductive. I would like to know for sure though as im looking for this item as well.