Subject: Dry Film Lubricant Recommendation

From: [email-masked] (Lawrence Schultz)
Date: 25 Jan 1995 14:29:17 GMT

Any suggestions on a suitable dry film lubricant to be used on a polystrene
bearing surface(poor choice of material) that rotates on a plain carbon steel
axle? My requirements dictate that I use a dry film lubricant consequently
that eliminates any types of oil. Since the load on the bearing is extremley
light, and the rotation speed only about 200 rpm, spray on dry film lubricants
like molydisulphide or graphite don't work especially well because they leave
a somewhat rough surface. Since the load is very low, the coating doesn't have
an opportunity to get burnished into the surface of the steel axle. The rough
surface of the spray on mos2 and the graphite actually perform worse than no
lubrication at all.

The best luck I've had to date for lubrication is with dry powdered graphite
that's dusted onto the steel axle surface. Unfortunately the powdered graphite 
wears off quickly.

Any suggestions or recommentations? Thanks in advance.

Larry Schultz

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From: [email-masked] (-F.KERFOOT)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 15:39:49 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
>that's dusted onto the steel axle surface. Unfortunately the powdered graphite 

I hope your son/brother/nephew wins HIS pinebox derby race. Its that
time of the year again, folks. (if I guessed wrong, I appologize)

Frank Kerfoot
Ass't Packmaster, Pack 205, Middletown, NJ
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Russ Kepler)
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 14:03:00 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Lawrence Schultz <[email-masked]> wrote:
>axle?
[deleted]
>Any suggestions or recommentations? Thanks in advance.

This sounds like some scout projects my son has done...  What we did
was to micropolish the steel axle, ream and polish the plastic wheel
and use a PTFE carrying dry lubricant on the bearing surface. A couple
of guys from Sandia labs beat us, but they didn't tell me what they'd
done to their wheels.

The mini-soapbox derby kinds of projects get a bit competitive around
government labs.

-- 
Russ Kepler posting from home  [email-masked]

                      Please don't feed the Engineers