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Silicone Grease Alternative?


musicman123

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Is there any reasonable cheap alternative to silicone grease for sealing in eyedropper pens? I am trying to convert my Pilot Parallel into an eyedropper but can't find any silicone grease anywhere (in my home at least). Are there any household products I could use as an alternative? Vaseline?

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There's a reason everyone uses silicone grease, and that is because a lot of the other stuff reacts with the plastics.Everything I have seen says that silicone grease is pretty much the best thing you will find if you don't want to get into esoteric and expensive products used in scientific applications. You can find small amounts of silicone grease at Goulet pens, Main Street Pens (under "Stuff"), and at dive shops.

Some people say they march to a different drummer. Me? I hear bagpipes.

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There's a reason everyone uses silicone grease, and that is because a lot of the other stuff reacts with the plastics.Everything I have seen says that silicone grease is pretty much the best thing you will find if you don't want to get into esoteric and expensive products used in scientific applications. You can find small amounts of silicone grease at Goulet pens, Main Street Pens (under "Stuff"), and at dive shops.

Oh thanks! I never thought to look there. Amazon sold only really big containers and I couldn't imagine myself using all of it!

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Check out my blog at Inks and Pens

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Silicone grease is available at HomeDepot for $3. Look in the plumbing department's area for faucet replacement parts.

 

And Lowe's. B)

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Does anyone know whether or not Vaseline has a deleterious effect on pen plastics? If not, it could possibly be a useful alternative. I used it the couple time I ED'ed my Sailor 21 Pocket Pen a few months ago, with no problems.

 

Edit, for full disclosure: I do now use silicone grease from the Goulets on my one and only ED (a Preppy); the Sailor is now happily functioning on the proprietary cartridges.

Edited by DaveBj

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

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Vaseline petroleum jelly contains petroleum byproducts and is not suggested for use with pens as I understand it.

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As best I can recollect from a prior thread, you need to be sure that the silicone sold in hardware stores is pure, straight silicone w/out additives. Vaseline, as a petroleum product, might have deleterious effects on plastics.

Some people say they march to a different drummer. Me? I hear bagpipes.

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Petrolium products (Vaseline, etc.) will purely eat hell out of a hard rubber feed. I know this from experience.

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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The stuff you find at Lowe's and Home Depot in the plumbing department should be labeled as pure silicone grease. I've been using it to repair snorkel pens.

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The stuff you find at Lowe's and Home Depot in the plumbing department should be labeled as pure silicone grease. I've been using it to repair snorkel pens.

 

Do you have a brand name for the grease you buy from Lowe's/Home Depot? I haven't checked for it in their stores, but on their websites the only silicone grease they offer (Danco or Partsmaster Pro) is "silicone based," I don't see any that purports to be 100% pure silicone grease.

 

I purchased a small container of Aquaseal "100% pure silicone grease" - it says that right on the label - at a local diving shop (I was surprised and happy to actually find such a shop here in landlocked Colorado;) I probably have a lifetime supply of it, plus now have another small tube of it that came with my TWSBI Mini, but if I ever need more, I would purchase it from one of our pen vendors, just to be sure, or go back to the dive shop.

 

Holly

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My local Lowes carries a 2oz container of Oatey's Silicone Grease. Labeled as 90% pure, but with no petro chemicals and safe for plastics and all seals. I've used it for quite a while with no problems. Polydimethylsiloxane is listed as the only ingredient on the MSDS, so why it isn't labeled 100%? I can't answer that. I use it and it works on my Pelikans (120, 140, M150, M200) Reforms and TWSBI Vac700.

 

Paul

 

ETA Vaseline (petroleum jelly) will degrade anything made of a petroleum base over time. I put some in a jar with a rubber gasket in the lid. The gasket first thickened and eventually made a gooey mess. May not damage celluloid, but would definitely harm hard rubber.

Edited by kidde

"Nothing is impossible, even the word says 'I'm Possible!'" Audrey Hepburn

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Vaseline will melt rubber, cooking oils may make o-rings expand. I used both of those on Nerf blasters (I'm a child at heart, yes) as lubrication, neither ended well. You know something's wrong when there's sticky black gunk coming out.

Silicone grease is very useful in many applications - general purpose lubricant that's safe for plastics. They sell it at ACE hardware too, might need to do a litte searching, but it's in the plumbing section.

 

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/acesilicone_zps6d6a416b.jpg

However, it's *not pure silicone because there's a thickener (silica AKA chemically the same as sand) added to it, according to Wikipedia. I suppose going for the ones labeled 100% silicone would be safest, not sure if the diving grease is thinner than pipe grease.

I used silicone grease on top of teflon tape when converting my Platinum Preppy and Uni-Ball Vision Elite into eyedroppers. The original threads were too loose, and I didn't like putting too much grease in there to fill in the gaps.

Edited by Kuryaka
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The stuff you find at Lowe's and Home Depot in the plumbing department should be labeled as pure silicone grease. I've been using it to repair snorkel pens.

 

hmm. I would have thought the stuff from dive shops would be optimal for snorkel pens. :lticaptd:

Moshe ben David

 

"Behold, He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps!"

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My local Lowes carries a 2oz container of Oatey's Silicone Grease. Labeled as 90% pure, but with no petro chemicals and safe for plastics and all seals. I've used it for quite a while with no problems. Polydimethylsiloxane is listed as the only ingredient on the MSDS, so why it isn't labeled 100%? I can't answer that. I use it and it works on my Pelikans (120, 140, M150, M200) Reforms and TWSBI Vac700.

 

Paul

Cool - thank you for the info, Paul.

 

@Kuryaka - hmm, not sure I would want to put sand on the threads of my pens or inside the body of the pen when lubing pistons. (Guessing it isn't really sand, but that is what I think of when silica is mentioned. :P )

 

hmm. I would have thought the stuff from dive shops would be optimal for snorkel pens. :lticaptd:

LOL :D

 

Holly

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Does anyone know whether or not Vaseline has a deleterious effect on pen plastics? If not, it could possibly be a useful alternative. I used it the couple time I ED'ed my Sailor 21 Pocket Pen a few months ago, with no problems.

 

 

 

ETA Vaseline (petroleum jelly) will degrade anything made of a petroleum base over time. I put some in a jar with a rubber gasket in the lid. The gasket first thickened and eventually made a gooey mess. May not damage celluloid, but would definitely harm hard rubber.

 

It also does the same to polystyrene, but at a slower rate. I had some 1:1 scale model guns at the end of my childhood (start of the '80s) and used it as a slide lubricant for the autos. It took me a while to jump from "Why is this wearing so badly? It's got loads of Vaseline on it!" to "2+2 = dammit".

Ravensmarch Pens & Books
It's mainly pens, just now....

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Ever notice how Vaseline liquefies and flows into your pores, with just the body heat of your hand ?

In your nice, warm pocket or warm hand, it can run out from the pen threads. Good lubricant. Bad sealant.

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Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

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Ace Hardware sells an Architectural Grade silicone in a 2.8 fluid ounce tube that is 100% Silicone. It lists ingredients as: Silica (68855-54-9), Ethyl Triacetoxysilane as Acetic Acid (64-19-7), Titanium Dioxide (13463-67-7), Silicone Fluid (mixture), Dibutyitin Dilurate (77-58-7). I picked it up and did not read the label until I got home. It is apparently a substitute for caulking. I won't be using it on any pens.

 

-David.

No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery. -Anon.

A backward poet writes inverse. -Anon.

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