[GreenKeys] Lube

[John Nagle]

> From: Michael Zahorik
> Subject: [GreenKeys] Lube Message-ID:
>
> The last few days, me Flexowriter has been giving my fits.The typing
> machine works fine, but the translator has been the problem. It would
> not type a character or type the wrong one. The translator converts
> the tape reader contacts or the computer input into mechanicalpulls
> on the 'seekers' which in turn operates the typing machine. Well.....
> Ifound quite a bit of old lube that had turned into tar on the
> translator magnets and armatures. This would cause the armatures to
> stick and not release quickly enough. I also found some of this same
> gunk on some of the mechanical parts that move. Making them move
> slower then needed. So after some cleaning and adjusting, the unit is
> working again.?My question is should the mechanical levers, bails,
> camsetal be lubed? There is not much in the Friden manuals regarding
> lubing the translator. So I've been rather stingy with any oil. Afraid
> I'd gum it upagain. Any advice on lube. The Friden can't be that
> different than the TeleType in this department. Thanks Mike

I've been using 0-20W synthetic motor oil on five Teletype machines
since 2008 without problems.  Synthetic motor oil is all one
molecular weight - there are no heavy fractions.  Most oils are
a mixture of various molecular weights, from very light down to
asphalt.  This is OK at first, but the light fractions evaporate
first and leave the tar and asphalt components behind.

There are synthetic machine oils, but they tend to retail
in tiny containers with excessive prices and come from
vendors you never heard of and without a chemical composition
listed.  Full synthetic motor oils aren't that expensive
and are easy to buy.

It took me weeks to unjam a Teletype Model 15 which someone
had lubricated with an oil with heavy fractions, then
left in a garage for twenty years. See:

http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,43672.0.html


				John Nagle