We took apart our motors today and used Vaseline to lubricate the new high speed gears. Is this okay? I know it has higher viscosity but I was wondering if that would cause a problem. Should I use white lithium grease instead? Also, for the plastic gears, which one of these would be better. Thanks!
My team uses white lithium grease and I think that you should too. I am not sure if using Vaseline would make a difference, but for plastic gears I think that Vaseline will eat the plastic. (Source: Rubic’s Cube knowledge).
Both will work. But I am not sure the long term effects or effectiveness of the Vaseline.
Lithium Grease is a holder of the oil inside it and when you squish things together the oil comes out and is lubricating the joint. When it’s not squeezed the oil gets absorbed back into the lithium holder like a sponge.
Petroleum jelly is just the oil I think. But I thought it dried up easier and needed to be removed and re-applied versus just add some more lithium grease in.
I am not sure which gives a lower coefficient of friction. I would have to imagine the lithium grease as it is more generally used on machines. Moly (molybdenum) based greases are also popular but more expensive. I think they have heat performance characteristics we don’t need to worry about in Vex.
A nice read:
http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/1352/grease-basics
Really? I try to use silicone spray for my Rubik’s cubes because WD40 eats away at the plastic.
But back on topic, my team still uses lithium grease for sliders and anything metal. If there’s plastic, like the plastic gears, we use graphite powder (commonly used to make keys and locks smoother).