Cleanliness is the wellspring of functionality.

[Chuck H]

That's why machine oil, silicone and Teflon stuff, electrical contact cleaner, fader-lube and DeOxit-type pot cleaners are available.

It might be interesting to know how similar (or dissimilar) WD40 is in composition to some of the producte you mention. It may actually be that it's just about the same. There may be some small differences that make it less suitable but it could be mice nuts. And the reason we don't use the stuff is because we're told it's wrong.

Example: You know that tiny can of "gasoline conditioner" they sell at the auto parts store for adding to old gas??? It helps separate the water and dissolve varnishing in your gas tank. It costs about five bucks for a four ounce container. If you read the ingredients you'll see it's nothing but mineral spirits. Yup, the same stuff as ordinary paint thinner. But someone puts in a little can labled for an alternative use and charges nearly twenty times the price you would pay for the same stuff at the paint store.

All I'm saying is, what makes actual fader lube better and less prone to gunk or cause problems than WD40. I don't use WD40 for this task, but people have been doing it forever.

It's one thing to think your doing the right thing by using the advertised applicable product. And it's a very satisfying feeling. But it's quite another thing to know the truth of an issue. And considering it now I have to admit that I don't.

[Steve Conner]

Well, all of these things have to have MSDS published, and the MSDS tells you what the ingredients are, or at least the dangerous ones. I doubt it would reveal the magic recipe for Stabilant/Deoxit.

For instance in Britain we have (or had) a brand of contact cleaner called Super Servisol. According to the MSDS, the main ingredient is "Pale spindle oil", whatever that is. WD40 is made of "Aliphatic Hydrocarbon", "Petroleum base oil" and "Surfactant-Proprietary". So, maybe they're both basically mineral oil, naphtha, kerosene or whatever, but WD40 has some sort of soap in it too.

[Chuck H]

Right. Sure. I'm not saying that WD40 is suitable. I'm just saying "How do we know it's not?" Everyone tells you that it'll cause the parts to gunk up. But IMHE some of the factory lubricants on pots and faders are extreamly tacky. How are these lubricants less prone to collect dust than WD40??? I haven't looked into it yet. I was just sharing a thought process out loud. It's never good to be complacent WRT the unknown IMHO.

[riz]

"Pale spindle oil" is probably the same stuff I dump in the gravity-fed spindle oilers of my Bridgeport mill and pin router, to lubricate the spindles during use. I guess on some level, oil is oil...

I, too, need to look into this Stabilant stuff.