Replacement Fullerscope Mkiii grease (it was kilopoise)

[billhinge]

Hi

I'm stripping down my Mkiii mount and have removed all the black crackle paint back to the bare aluminium and have taken the worm gear and clutches off

On the Mkiii we have two 1" steel bars that appear to slide inside aluminium DEC and RA housings. Looking at an old catalogue it was lubed with kilopoise but this has mostly got rubbed off when I was stripping the mount. The kilopoise was actually in great shape considering it must have been 40 years old and had been out in the garden a couple of years

So my question, what would you replace the kilopoise with, given it only comes in large tins and is very expensive?

I'm in two minds whether to use mobil 1 (as recommended by Celestron) or engine assembly grease (software bisque recommend Lubriplate 105 assembly grease but it hard to get here however google gives several alternative UK brands) .

Apparently assembly grease is best for metal on metal surfaces as opposed to gears and ball bearings or so the internet says. I was reading an old post on cloudynights when someone used superlube on an old AP mount similar to this but it made the mount too stiff so he replaced the superlube with Lubriplate which was better

Point to remember, I'm not talking about the worm, just the metal on metal DEC and RA shafts

Any suggestions, my vision is eventually to motorise the mount

[Peter Drew]

I think your quote "The Kilopise was in great shape considering it must have been 40 years old and had been out in the garden for a couple of years" says a lot. I used Kilopoise in hundreds of telescopes as a professional telescope maker without any reported problems. Kilopoise can be too stiff in really cold conditions, I found the trick was to mix it with a 50/50 proportion of a lighter grease thereby benefitting from both performances.

[billhinge]

Yes, I have noticed how grease seems to stiffen in winter . The problem with kilopoise is that it comes in 450g tins and is very expensive so I'm looking for something that will turn in winter and is fairly cheap and available

My suspicion is that the fullerscopes mounts were not intended to be mollycoddled like todays mounts and therefore had more weather resistant grease applied ?? I'm looking to do a good tune up and paint job so I wont be leaving the mount exposed again (actually looks good in shiny aluminium) but it needs to be able to turn and balance in winter

Having lost much of the original grease (kilopoise is a damping grease) the axes now turn very smoothly but the shafts are steel and are thus prone to rusting if not coated

[JonF]

If you're interested in using Lubriplate, why don't you give London Lubricants a call? They're the UK distributors. Alternatively, it's a lithium grease, of which there are loads of alternatives available, including in pretty small quantities.

[billhinge]

Thanks Jon

I did notice that but I wasn't sure they would sell a single tube to the public, but guess there is nothing to lose

[billhinge]

I received an email from London Lubricants, price is £9.99 + vat + £6p&P for 284g tube. I'm going to get some, if its good enough for software bisque then probably good enough for me

I'll try some on my CG5 metal on metal surfaces as well

http://www.bisque.com/help/paramountme/lubricating_the_paramount_me.htm

http://www.lubriplate.com/Products/Automotive-Lubricants-Motor-Oils/Lubriplate-No-105-Motor-Assembly-Grease.aspx

[billhinge]

shamelessly replying to my own thread

I found an interesting article here - maybe useful to someone in future - see page 21

http://www.company7.com/library/astrophy/Mach1GTO-manual.pdf

[PDW]

I am always puzzled by the fact that Celestron recommend a Lithium-based grease for their mounts, but allow Synta to assemble them with an adhesive like glop so sticky that it prevents the purchaser from accurately balancing the mount.

[billhinge]

My theory is that they do it for compromise, it looks easier to set up if you have never done it before when the grease is like glue, so it appears to achieved (false) balance, plus it hides any irregularities

plus anything to save a few shillings per mount in manufacturing

I could be wrong though ...

[billhinge]

I sent off for the lubriplate #105 on Monday and received it today

I managed to pull the MkIII apart into its constituent parts except for the Dec axis, the MkIII is quite a simple mount consisting of a cast aluminium tube with a couple of DIY bushings at either end which the 1" steel shaft turns on.

In the end I decided to leave the casting on the Dec axis rather than forcing it off and so I cleaned the shaft in parts by moving the casting along the shaft to expose different areas of it

I cleaned any rust off the shafts back to the bare metal using rust cleaner and a wire brush attachment on a drill then cleaned with alcohol before applying the grease which is quite a soft viscous white grease and is water repellent . After jiggling the steel shafts about every thing seems to turn nice and smoothly with just a smooth stiction

Next step is to paint the aluminium parts with primer before painting with black hammerite - decided against original black crackle finish since it isn't very weather resistant. Although the scope will retain its original black finish since it is in good condition