Favourite cylinder lubrication

A special section just for steam engines and boilers, as without these you may as well fit a sail.
Hermit
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Re: Favourite cylinder lubrication

Post by Hermit » Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:49 am

barts wrote:
Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:15 am
I use the green velvet oil PB &J 460 but they seem to be out of business.

- Bart
HI Bart

The Green Velvet guy retired but his products are still being made. Brennan Oil Company is one of their distributors, they are in Durango Colorado and they supply the oil to the Durango Railroad. They have all the different oils that Green Velvet made but not their greases. They have steam oil for Super Heat and non Super Heat which is the SAPON-A-MAX 320 that is good for up to 160 psi. They also have all the PB&J oils which I believe come in 100, 220 and 460 weights. I use the 220 PB&J and the SAPON-A-MAX 320 steam oil and I run right at 160 psi. If you are not sure what you need or you just want to hear all the options talk to Colton. If you know exactly what you want you can talk to Michelle who does all the shipping. They were both really helpful, very courteous and happy to answer all my questions. The oil comes in 5 gallon pails and runs approx $100 a pail give or take, plus shipping. If you want smaller quantities Little Engines in Washington state has quart size bottles but it doesn't look like they have anything for Super Heat, see this link http://www.littleengines.com/accessories/trains.html I like the 5 gallon pails because it costs less and I usually don't get caught short with no oil. Brennan shipped my oil right away, they have everything in stock.

Brennan's phone number is 970-247-3054 and their web site is at
http://www.brennanstations.com/brennans ... lesale.php

Hope this helps!
Mitch
SL Ethel
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Re: Favourite cylinder lubrication

Post by SL Ethel » Thu Mar 07, 2019 6:14 pm

If I may circle back to the first post in the thread... what prompts the decision to start using oil instead of graphite? I was considering doing just the opposite switch as I convert to a condensing system. How did you introduce the graphite, and why was it not satisfactory?

Thanks in advance,

Scott
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TahoeSteam
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Re: Favourite cylinder lubrication

Post by TahoeSteam » Fri Mar 08, 2019 5:01 am

We used colloidal graphite in a displacement lubircator on the big boat... problem was we kept it suspended in water and the water had this nasty habit of evaporating out of the lubircator as it got hot. It did a great job of lubricating inside the engine, but we kept having the evaporation problem eventually caking graphite in the lubircator and the quill in the main steam line. We ended up going back to regular steam cylinder oil and graphite mix. Eventually we'll go to a mechanical lubicator (like Manzel) and try it again.

Long story short, it works great!... if you can find something to suspend it in that won't evaporate too quickly
SL Ethel
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Re: Favourite cylinder lubrication

Post by SL Ethel » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:40 pm

TahoeSteam wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 5:01 am

Long story short, it works great!... if you can find something to suspend it in that won't evaporate too quickly
Well, there goes my graphite-dissolved-in-acetone plan!

In seriousness, than you for the feedback on the graphite. Based on your description, I think I will definitely give it a try. It sounds like the best way might be a mechanical oiler that gives it a larger shot of lubricant at intervals, rather than a tiny constant feed. For me, that's probably just a manual injection pump (a model sized hand feed pump, perhaps?).

Thanks!

Scott
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TahoeSteam
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Re: Favourite cylinder lubrication

Post by TahoeSteam » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:54 pm

Yes, a mechanical lubricator would work I think. Our lubricator was a large glass lunkenheimer with a hand-operated lever affixed directly to the main steam line just after the throttle (not a hydrostatic lubricator). Too close and too hot.
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