Topic: replacement lubricant

[astrobeck]

What's the best replacement lube to use on an older Smena/Cosmic Symbol?

I took one apart because the advance lever/winding on/shutter cocking mechanism was a bit "cranky" and had some dried out and what appeared to be caked on lubricant in the cog wheels for it.

I scraped the old dried out stuff off, and am wondering what is the best stuff to re-lube it with?
I'm thinking white lithium, but would like other's opinions...especially if you have done such a task before.

The camera works well and is built like a tank...
Thanks!   

[sapata]

Becky... I have used Vaseline in other cameras ( the very same one from the picture) with success in the past but don't know if might work in your case

[astrobeck]

great idea!
And I have this stuff!   

[Pete_R]

If it's just the slow moving parts and they are all metal parts, some grease like you'd use on your car is as good as anything. I would stay away from vaseline. It's not designed to be a grease, as in, to lubricate moving parts. It might help for a while but will probably break down and run everywhere.

[sapata]

The reason I used is because is basic petroleum jelly... the stuff is recommended as anti corrosion for car batteries for example. I guess is also depends on how much of that stuff you'll put in the camera...

[Francois]

What I'd be more afraid of is that the Vaseline would liquefy in the hot new mexico sun and make a big mess.

Moly and white lithium are often used for cranks and such. But if it's any help, I had a Cosmic 35 and the rewind was so hard that your thumbs would hurt for two days after rewinding the film in the can!

[Sandeha Lynch]

Grease has to stay put.  Agfa and several other manufacturers went too far using a grease that turned solid over time.  Others have used greases that migrate into the shutter and onto the back of lenses far too easily.  I use an automotive copper grease that just happened to be in the shop at the time, and that works fine.   

[astrobeck]

I'd never heard of copper grease...; 

The auto supply stores here have it, so I may check it out.

Looks like a good thing to have around the house at any rate.   

Thanks!  I'll report back later on.....

[Randy B]

I've never tried using it on a camera, but theres this amazing stuff called Ballistol.  Works great for keeping metal from rusting and is an excellent lubricant as well.  It soaks into the metal and seems to really stay on for a long time doing its thing.  I use it all the time for general household stuff and cleaning knives and firearms.  Added bonus is it also treats and preserves leather and wood and is safe on many synthetic rubbers and plastics.  Non toxic too.

I know I sound like an infomercial here but seriously, if it can't be fixed with duct tape, a swiss army knife or some Ballistol it can't be done

[Francois]

A bit of trivia here:

WD-40 stands for Water Displacement formula No. 40.
It was first used to prevent oxidation on the Atlas ballistic missiles. It's main ingredient: fish oil.

[mcduff]

I don't know Francois, the fish oil thing veers into urban rumour territory

But as far as lubricants are concerned I have heard that lube purchased in a hobby shop for model trains (etc) is a good candidate.

[astrobeck]

I decided to use the white lith grease.

My husband had a tub of it, so I was saved from going to the auto parts store, plus the white lith grease is what we use on our telescope mounts , so I feel okay using it.

Now it has a fresh "grease" smell.   

Thanks for all the tips!

[zapsnaps]

[Thought to self]... My wife/daughter/sister/mother/gran use KY and they are snapping constantly.

[Francois]

I don't know Francois, the fish oil thing veers into urban rumour territory

Well, there is not many ways to figure out what's in the stuff. Fish oil could very well be part of the "unregulated products" it contains.
It wouldn't be a big part of it but still it makes for a nice story

[Aksel]

I'd never heard of copper grease...;   

Stay away from it, it´s to thick and literally impossible to get rid of.

[Sandeha Lynch]

I'd never heard of copper grease...;   

Stay away from it, it´s to thick and literally impossible to get rid of.

It's more difficult to apply to a lens thread than more liquid greases because of its thickness, but a small quantity provides a perfectly smooth action.  And, to my knowledge, it will never migrate. 

[Owlsflight]

The white lithium should be fine, but I don't have any experience with this grease in hot temps as far as creeping goes. Looks like it's an easy camera to take apart should you ever need to in the future.

[Jack Johnson]

I haven't done any work on this front, but I think about it intermittently.

I think white lithium grease is probably a decent choice. I think with any grease you're going to get some creep, and it will definitely collect dust over time, so I would use it as sparingly as possible.

I used to do a lot of cycling in crazy weather. Where I went to college the temperatures (that I would brave cycling) would swing from about -20F/-29C to 90F/32C, and it certainly plays hell with lubricants. The three that I came to trust the most were a white lith (well-loved by the railroad engineers), some variation of Redline CV2 synthetic grease, and Teflon-based chain lube.

I did some Googling and it looks like average grease loses about half its oil content every four years, and that rate may double for every 10C increase. Given that if I'm going to crack open a camera, *I* probably only want to do it once during its lifetime. It probably came with some variation of either petroleum grease, petroleum jelly, or something like sewing machine oil, with maybe a 40 year lifespan. Not bad, considering the builder may have been speculating as much as I am (and probably wasn't expecting someone to still be using the camera 40 years later).

If I had to gamble on someone else's camera, I would probably go with a red synthetic grease. If I were working on my own camera, I would probably use a white lith and fret about the dust accumulation (and crack the camera open again in five years to check), or use a microscopic amount of Teflon-based oil, cross my fingers, and forget it. The less expensive the camera, the more I would probably lean towards the oil.

I have a toy camera that looks like it was lubed with petroleum jelly at the factory, and it's maybe 20 years old at the most, and it's having lubrication issues. For a camera that costs pocket change, another dab of petroleum jelly seems like the logical choice, but I suspect if I had some kind of gentle Teflon spray it might outlive the rest of my cameras. Assuming I didn't sit on it.

Conversely, my Great Wall is having lubrication issues, too, and I have no idea what I'm going to do there. It seems like there's so much potential for weep and creep in that thing that it makes me nervous, but I thought of using that to my advantage. A drop of oil in the cable release hole would probably fix nearly anything on the shutter side.