best grease to lubricate lenses

[goorackerelite]

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I have a leica 40mm c that's getting a bit stiff. can you guys recommend a great way to clean out the old grease and relube with a preferred grease?

 

Thanks

[jaapv]

Anything you do barring taking it apart and using the grease that repair technicians do ( I have no idea which) will be a stopgap measure which will risk oiling up the aperture blades.

However I had good results putting one drop of thin Silicone oil on.the helicoid.

[Fgcm]

Well, i suppose you know exactly how to disassemble and put everything together at the end of the job.

 

Greasing helicoids is a different story from greasing other mechanic devices.

You should put a very small amount of grease.

The less the grease, the better the helicoid will rotate.

If you overgrease, the focus ring will be too dumped.

 

A good choice is the Japanese helicoid grease that you can buy at micro tools

The thin type is better. Medium grease is ok but the focus will be a little dumped.

 

A cheaper choice can be a thin grease like Rheolube 728 or similar

 

An even better choice is to send your lens to a trusted lab.

A good lab will make a good job for less than you think

 

Franco

[105012]

If you have the right tools, aptitude and a lens diagram then this is possible. Otherwise, a trained technician is best. Putting a helicoid together if you have not noted the correct threads can provide hours of 'fun'. To clean off the old grease, use very pure lighter fuel. For the grease, I like Helimax XP, spread thinly. A wonderfully smooth result, much better than the greases used in older times.

[Fgcm]

Putting a helicoid together if you have not noted the correct threads can provide hours of 'fun'

 

100% true!

[epand56]

Beside, before getting involved in a similar job, you should at least know what an helicoid is, which I don't

[menos I M6]

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Anything you do barring taking it apart and using the grease that repair technicians do ( I have no idea which) will be a stopgap measure which will risk oiling up the aperture blades.

However I had good results putting one drop of thin Silicone oil on.the helicoid.

 

DON'T ever do this.

I hate buying lenses and having to remove the mess, people put into their lenses by terrible internet advice.

 

There are several types of dedicated lubricants, suitable of the job.

For many lens jobs, very different lubricants are needed.

 

Best advice I can give:

Don't touch a thing and have the lens cleaned and re-lubed by a professional.

A focus mount CLA on a 40/2 should not be excessively expensive (think somewhere between 50-150 USD if no further repair is needed, depending on the person who charges).

 

It will last you several decades of regular use though if done properly and will be guaranteed not to mess up your lens if done professionally.

 

DON'T use any lubricants, applied externally, just don't.

[jaapv]

Worked fine. The secret is in the amount. It must be miniscule, just enough to activate the original lubricant.. My lens is clean and smooth after five years..

But you are right to warn people about slapping on oil indiscriminately.

[klatt]

Grease is a mixture of an oil, some kind of gelling agent, and optional additives. You can stick a portion of grease somewhere and the oil leaks slowly from the gel and spreads to the surrounding surface, providing a minimal quantity lubrication to the wetted surfaces. If the grease becomes dry, it simply shows that the oil is used up. Depending to the properties of the components of a grease and the operating conditions it works for a variable duration, but not forever. A most common application of grease is lifetime lubrication in ball bearings.

Silicone grease is a grease with silicone oil as a base component. Silicone oil does not mix well with other lubricants. Silicone oil based lubricants usually have poor lubricity compared to other lubricants optimised for the same purpose. Silicone oil based lubricants are chosen only as a last resort when either the thermal or chemical stability is crucial and not available in other lubricants, or when you need an unusual low dependency of viscosity to temperature, or else in case of vacuum applications (silicone oil has an extremely low vapour pressure). Please choose and apply silicone oil based lubricants with extra care, because removal is a nightmare. If you put it to a surface, it will stick and spread easily, while you will have a hard time to remove it to a degree that would allow to properly paint that surface or glue something onto that surface. You will definately not want to have silicone oil anywhere in a workshop where you apply paint jobs or prepare glued assemblies. Applied on a cleaned helicoid, even traces of silicone oil might degrade the lubricity of other lubricants, as it will strongly affects the boundary layer of the lubricated surface. Applied to the residues of old grease it might temporarily work, but at the price of a delayed need to later remove that nasty stuff before applying an appropriate grease. Another unwanted side effect of silicone oil is that it increases the susceptibility to cracking of many plastics.

In short: Please stay away from silicone oil based lubricants and similar stuff (do also not use Armor All on photgraphic equipment, as it contains silicone oil, too). The only exception from the general rule to avoid silicone oil is in applications that are firstly recommended explicitly from the lens manufacturer, if you secondly have exactly the specified grade of lube at hand and thirdly you also have equipment to avoid spreading of silicone grease to surfaces where it should not be.

[farnz]

22 minutes ago, klatt said:

Grease is a mixture of an oil, some kind of gelling agent, and optional additives. You can stick a portion of grease somewhere and the oil leaks slowly from the gel and spreads to the surrounding surface, providing a minimal quantity lubrication to the wetted surfaces. If the grease becomes dry, it simply shows that the oil is used up. Depending to the properties of the components of a grease and the operating conditions it works for a variable duration, but not forever. A most common application of grease is lifetime lubrication in ball bearings.

Silicone grease is a grease with silicone oil as a base component. Silicone oil does not mix well with other lubricants. Silicone oil based lubricants usually have poor lubricity compared to other lubricants optimised for the same purpose. Silicone oil based lubricants are chosen only as a last resort when either the thermal or chemical stability is crucial and not available in other lubricants, or when you need an unusual low dependency of viscosity to temperature, or else in case of vacuum applications (silicone oil has an extremely low vapour pressure). Please choose and apply silicone oil based lubricants with extra care, because removal is a nightmare. If you put it to a surface, it will stick and spread easily, while you will have a hard time to remove it to a degree that would allow to properly paint that surface or glue something onto that surface. You will definately not want to have silicone oil anywhere in a workshop where you apply paint jobs or prepare glued assemblies. Applied on a cleaned helicoid, even traces of silicone oil might degrade the lubricity of other lubricants, as it will strongly affects the boundary layer of the lubricated surface. Applied to the residues of old grease it might temporarily work, but at the price of a delayed need to later remove that nasty stuff before applying an appropriate grease. Another unwanted side effect of silicone oil is that it increases the susceptibility to cracking of many plastics.

In short: Please stay away from silicone oil based lubricants and similar stuff (do also not use Armor All on photgraphic equipment, as it contains silicone oil, too). The only exception from the general rule to avoid silicone oil is in applications that are firstly recommended explicitly from the lens manufacturer, if you secondly have exactly the specified grade of lube at hand and thirdly you also have equipment to avoid spreading of silicone grease to surfaces where it should not be.

Thank you for your excellent description and advice.

(Please note that this thread has been cold for 7 years.)

Pete.