Fomblin oil

[unicorn]

Has anyone here used Fomblin oil or Crytox grease for a gun lube? I used to used to use crytox as a lube for high temp injection molds in another line of work. I just came into possesion of about an ounce of Fomblin oil. These are supposed to be some sort of super lubricant. The Crytox was put on so thin that you had to hold the part up to the light to see if it was on there. The oil is about the same, super high priced, but supposed to never wear off.

 

[Sam1911]

Can't say that I've ever heard of those being used on guns. Sure wouldn't want to have to pay for it, but if you've got some you need to use up I'm sure it will work at least as well as Mobil 1 or ATF.

 

[unicorn]

I figure it might be useful to oil the inside hinges on the gates to Hull. I was told that it was a hundred dollars an ounce, but don't know for sure. It should be excellent, if it doesn't draw dirt. We are making a machine that dispenses a smidge of it to an assembled part, and is supposed to last the life of that part.

 

[Sam1911]

Wow. Yeah...sure should work ok on a gun! 'Course when you wash it all away when you clean that gun after just 500-1,000 rds, won't you feel a tad wasteful?

 

[481]

I'd avoid using Krytox on a gun- especially the bore. Krytox produces hazardous fumes under thermal decomposition (> 662 F) and it is also a real pain to remove from surfaces without the correct solvent.

I'd stick with any of the synthetic motor oils (M1, etc) like Sam mentioned.

 

[Moondoggie]

I used to buy fomblin for a computer mfg back in the 80's. We used it to lube rigid disk packs for storage drives. The reason we used it was that we could apply almost microscopic amounts in areas where we didn't want any contamination spinning out when the drive was in operation. In those days, the read/write head "flew" over the surface of the disk at a ridiculously small distance with tolerances measured in a few hundred thousandths of an inch.

IMHO, it's viscosity is too thin for anything but specialized applications. There's plenty of suitable gun lube products that are way cheaper.

 

[Longhorn 76]

Fomblin is used because it has low out-gassing for vacuum applications, and other applications because it does not chemically react with oxygen, not because it is a good lubricant.

I have used it on fishing reels and guns, and it really sucks.

 

[hso]

Just because it is $150 a kg doesn't make it good for all applications. It is of particular value in chemically reactive environments and vacuum environments and is therefore very expensive compared to lubricating oils that are more volatile or reactive.

 

[unicorn]

Thanks for the answers, guys. I am new here, but have been lurking enough to know there are a bunch of smart fellers. Figured that maybe someone had already tried it.