Well, all lubricants are supposed to prevent scuffing and reduce friction!

Manufacturers' claims are sometimes optimistic ("WD" actually stands for "Water Dispersant", not "Worm Drives" ) but if you've found this lubricant satisfactory on worm-gears I'd think it safe on change-wheels.

I would though suggest being quite thorough with it, because it might not be carried from tooth to tooth as readily as conventional oil.

[ Sanity Check ]

Molybdenum Disulphide is good stuff

… as a dry powder, it is also relatively cheap: **LINK**

https://lowerfriction.com/dry-solid-lubricant-powders/molybdenum-disulfide-mos2-powder/

How did mankind get into the state of insanity where tiny quantities are sold in expensive and hazardous packages

MichaelG.

Back in the 1980's Myford used to supply a Rocol product, (I think it was MOS, or MS), which was similar to the spray on sort that you have. I have been using for many years Molykote GN paste, comes in a tube and I apply it with an artists broad paint brush to my change wheels.

It does stay put once applied and does not fly everywhere which is what tends to happen with some greases.

Regards

Gray,

Sounds good to me, just be careful not to get the stuff on yourself, moly is dirty black stuff.

I used it a lot back when I was working on part's of plant where I didn't want any contamination from the lubricant, but I never used it on gears

H

These were unopened tins. Good for slideways.

Martin

I was MD of a chemical manufacturing company supplying the aerospace industry amongst others. Most of our products, if left unopened in their containers, had an indefinite shelf life. However, some of our customers insisted we gave our products a use-by date. We were happy to comply.

In some cases where product had reached its use by date we would, at the customers request, remove it from their site and replace it with new product. They would be charged for the removal and for the new product. Rather than sending the old product to landfill we would either revalidate and repackage it ready for sale once more or rework it with the next batch of product.

As an accountant by trade I was rather fond of use by dates…

Graham

An accountant might well see it that way, but the historically the military have had severe problems with suppliers not understanding how their product might be treated in peace-time and no idea about the way stores are abused in war-time! For that reason, the military often call for triple layer packaging or more, with full labelling inside each layer identifying the part by name and stock number, plus relevant information about date packed, shelf-life, hazards etc etc. The packaging may also have a shelf life! Ridiculously extreme by most civilians standards, but it's not done for civilians.

The idea is to make sure the guys being shot at aren't let down by duff spares, whether damaged in transit, poorly stored or by old-age. As this is extremely difficult to get right I strongly suggest it's best for suppliers to meet requirements set by the customer's engineer. Possibly he made a mistake, more likely he knows much more about the product and how it might be used than the supplier.

Martin commented: These were unopened tins, which is fine and dandy except sealed tins leak! Not much, but enough to be a problem if the customer has identified it as an issue. As I said, I don't think using degraded Molybdenum Disulphide on a lathe would matter at all.

I just note that as an inorganic chemical, Molybdenum Disulphide isn't completely stable. Unlike Common Salt it doesn't have an almost unlimited shelf-life.

I think the main problem with use-by dates is they never explain the underlying assumptions. Products stored in favourable conditions often last much longer than the use by date, whilst the same product stored unfavourably is likely to go off rather quickly. But we aren't told what favourable and unfavourable are. So use by dates are guidance rather than exact times, and the value of the guidance depends on our circumstances.

Dave

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I’m not arguing, Dave … I don’t have the knowledge

But if you’re sure of that, you might consider editing its page on Wikipedia:

MichaelG.

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Chemical reactions[edit]

Molybdenum disulfide is stable in air and attacked only by aggressive reagents.

I would not put nasty messy black moly lube on change gears. Change gears barely need any lubrication at all. They are a low-pressure, low power, low rpm application. A little bit of ordinary oil is all that is needed. If the gears are cast iron, even that is barely needed.

To save mess on mine, I use clear teflon motorbike chain lube spray, which I have in the shed anyway.

Edited By Hopper on 15/10/2022 02:56:50