Graphite Lubricant?

[reaxas]

I've recently picked up some lube for my ErgoClears and I was wondering what everyone thinks about using Graphite Lube on switches? On paper it seems like a pretty good alternative to the regular ones.

[jamster]

Graphite is electrically conductive. I cannot see this property making for a good lubricant in an electrical switch.

[chyros]

It's also messy as ****. Everytime I lube my bicycle lock with it I can practically write off my jeans and t-shirt.

[reaxas]

Graphite is electrically conductive. I cannot see this property making for a good lubricant in an electrical switch.

It's also messy as ****. Everytime I lube my bicycle lock with it I can practically write off my jeans and t-shirt.

Oh damn! I guess I won't be using that then! I was wondering if there were any easy to find alternatives? I've looked around almost everywhere is Mississauga, Ontario, and I can't seem find Teflon Silicon Lubricant. Ideally it'd be local, but if there's a fast delivery time online, that'd work too!

[fohat.digs]

Be patient and order the Krytox.

A spoonful of it will last for months/years and do a dozen keyboards.

[wlhlm]

nubbinator has a lube comparison coming up.

[nubbinator]

nubbinator has a lube comparison coming up.

Still waiting on the stuff to actually ship to me.  I should be getting the Molybdenum disulfide soon.  I went with that as a dry lube for the testing since it's supposed to have good lubrication properties, likes plastic and doesn't necessarily need to be in suspension, and it's non-conductive (or at least not enough to cause any problems).

I should also be getting some Teflon dry lube from CPTBadAss.

[CPTBadAss]

I should also be getting some Teflon dry lube from CPTBadAss.

It's in the mail already

[jamster]

Oh damn! I guess I won't be using that then! I was wondering if there were any easy to find alternatives? I've looked around almost everywhere is Mississauga, Ontario, and I can't seem find Teflon Silicon Lubricant. Ideally it'd be local, but if there's a fast delivery time online, that'd work too!

Last time I checked, Zeal had Krytox in stock. EK also has Mechlube2.

[Melvang]

Yeah graphite lubes would be bad in this situation for the reasons provided.  In the olden days of CPU overclocking, certain chips would need traces drawn on the chip with a pencil.  It can conduct that well.

nubbinator has a lube comparison coming up.

Still waiting on the stuff to actually ship to me.  I should be getting the Molybdenum disulfide soon.  I went with that as a dry lube for the testing since it's supposed to have good lubrication properties, likes plastic and doesn't necessarily need to be in suspension, and it's non-conductive (or at least not enough to cause any problems).

I should also be getting some Teflon dry lube from CPTBadAss.

Fair warning, that molybdenum is a 50 state carcinogen, not just in California.  Just wear latex gloves and wash them after and you will be fine.  I am not sure what level of exposure increases risk by a statisticaly significant amount, but our supervisors in the Navy were anal about that.  We had a couple parts that were coated with it as a permanent coating and had to be cleaned and greased every flight.

[nubbinator]

Molybdenum Disulfide is pretty harmless.  It's not rated as a carcinogen and there haven't been any damning studies of it.  The National Library of Medicine at the National Institute of Health lists it as practically non-toxic. And that's a quote:

Molybdenite (MoS2), by inhalative or oral routes, was found ... to be practically nontoxic

[Melvang]

Molybdenum Disulfide is pretty harmless.  It's not rated as a carcinogen and there haven't been any damning studies of it.  The National Library of Medicine at the National Institute of Health lists it as practically non-toxic. And that's a quote:

Molybdenite (MoS2), by inhalative or oral routes, was found ... to be practically nontoxic

You are right.   That was a total brain fart on my part.  The grease we used was molybdenum based.  The parts were copper berilium coated.