[GreenKeys] Ordnance Grease LAS

[Roy Morgan]

On Dec 21, 2014, at 8:49 PM, drlegendre . <drlegendre at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey, at least he didn't say "ordinance", so take what you can get.. ;-)

Let’s see now:

Ordnance:  Guns, rifles, cannons and the like

Ordinance: regulations or rules.

Hmmmm

One of my pet peeves is any President of the United States (the Commander in Chief, mind you), who says nucular instead of nuclear.  It just seems to me that the person who controls their use would be able to say the word correctly.  Maybe it’s just endemic among Texans.

To be fair, when I wrote about the "Grease, Aircraft Ordnance”, I was reading from the can, so I spelled it right, I guess.  heheh

Chuck reports:
"I located the Mil Spec for the grease and it is for use from +70 to -50 C on all aircraft Machine Guns.  Dates  from the late 50's to 70's era.  Was use on the 20mm Mk 12 Navy MG for most of the aircraft used during ‘Nam.”

A fellow on another list wrote:
"The mil-spec itself is a little bit helpful as it notes the composition of the grease.  The main components are:

a)  Isodecyl perlagonate, lubricant grade - a plasticiser
b)  Bis (2-ethylhexyl) sebacate, lubricant grade - a plasticiser
c)  Dimethyl silicone fluid - a silicone oil
d)  Slightly phenylated silicone fluid - a silicone oil
e)  Lithium stearate - one of the components in white lithium grease

While I'm not a chemist...what I see above is a silicone oil that's been "thickened" with plasticizers with a little bit of one of the components of lithium grease in it.
So...bottom line...my thoughts would be this:

Some people *hate* white lithium grease.  I'm not a fan myself, as I've had it harden up over time when I've used it.

Some people also *hate* silicone oils, being that once you get some on a piece of metal, you'll never get it off so you'll never be able to paint that piece of metal.  That always seemed like old-wives tale to me, but I'm not a paint guy.

Being that the can is from 1967, you've got somewhat of an idea of how this stuff will age over time.  If its not hard in the can after near 50 years (it’s not)...it's probably going to stay like the way it is for the rest of our lives.

Being that it was intended to be a semi-fluid grease per the mil-spec, some separation is normal.

Bottom line, it's probably not the best grease out there for general use.  But it's probably not the worst stuff out there for general use either.  If it was me, I'd prefer new manufacture synthetic grease (like the tube of Mobil Mobilith SHC 100 I use in dynamotor bearings that is sitting next to me) over this stuff.  But...I'd use this stuff over Wally-World generic white-lithium grease any day.”

Perhaps I should find a tube (a lifetime supply) of this Mobil Mobilith SHC 100, at a cost of maybe $10.  That’s over twice the cost of ordinary grease, but my dynamotors and teletype motors deserve the very best!

Thanks to all for comments and humor.

Roy
(disappearing in a cloud of rotor wash)


Roy Morgan
RoyMorgan at alum.mit.edu
K1LKY Since 1958