Krytox Lube

[AlphaStudios]

HI - what is is about Krytox that makes it so special? can't any reasoonably heavy grease do the job? Any alternatives to Krytox?

[MIGHTY CHICKEN]

There's some alternatives, but its mostly due to the fact that kryptox is a nice consistency and doesn't separate.

Some alternatives include gazzew loop, certain superlubes, tribosys, some, very small amount of china aliexpress lubes. SW something it was I think. But generally krytox is just what you want.

For stab wires, dielectric grease, I use the super cheap silicone superlube one. Big ass tube for 3 bucks off amazon and it lasts forever.

[Surefoot]

Just any grease wont do: a lot of chemicals will attack and de-polymerize plastics, some greases will just harden or separate over time, or some others will just slip off plastics. You need a grease that does not separate, that clings to plastic surfaces, and keeps its properties over time, and is made for this kind of usage and temperatures.

Tribosys is an alternative.

[Fraaaan]

A big thing to look out for when buying lubricants/greases for switches is that is has to be plastic safe and non-conductive. That combined with the fact that Krytox makes a variety of grease viscosities and it doesn't separate over time makes it a perfect fit for lubing switches.

[AlphaStudios]

Thanks for the replies guys. Whats the best source for Krytox? it is made by DuPont right but i guess they only sell it in gallon tubs and folks part the tub up and sell like 10g at a time?

[butre]

I buy microlubrol instead of krytox.  it's the same pfpe oil + ptfe thickener as krytox, but it's much cheaper and easily available in larger but sub-kilogram quantitites.

I generally start with ultimox 226 and thin it down with whatever PFPE oil is handy.