I’ve got a bottle of Sid Harvey’s Extendo All-Purpose Motor & Bearing Assembly Oil (Item# F2-40) that I’ve used before on some of my HO scale locomotives. Over the past year, I’ve sold all of my HO scale items and switched to N scale. I never thought too much about lubrication until recently when I considered lubing one of my N scale locomotives. I bought this bottle of lubricating oil about 4 years ago, and I’ve never really encountered any problems with it, however I was wondering if this product is actually what I should be using. It says on the bottle “highest quality, turbine all-purpose lubricating oil ideal for use on machinery, electrical controls, industrial equipment, shop tools, electric motors from 1/3 to 5 hp, bushings, bearings, and all types of mechanical linkages.” Is this product suitable for model railroading, or should I start using something else? Thanks.
If you trust the product’s claims (and why would you not, unless you can find some nastygrams posted in blogs or complaint websites on the www…) then it is probably a very good product. If you can be assured that it will stick to the high-speed axles and bearings, and not be flung off to make contact with plastics, I would go ahead and use it.
Does it make any claims about its safety on painted surfaces or on bare styrene?
-Crandell
I just found the manufacturer’s website where it included a PDF file of information about this oil. Here is the web address: http://orders.sidharvey.com/IMAGES/MSDS/Z0033.pdf I don’t understand all the information on there but perhaps someone else can. I haven’t found anything that says it is safe for plastics, but it does say it is All-Purpose. I do know that this oil is very runny and not thick. My experience with it on my HO items is that it does not gum up like thicker oils do.