Nye lube, thoughs and opinions...

[S 3/6]

Sorry if this has been covered before, but I am very low on oil. I generally oil my HO every 40-50 hours and my 1 Gauge every 20, all bearings with one drop, and the motors as recommended by the manufacturer. Their website is www.nyelubricants.com

My question is, I've heard that Nye makes great synthetic lubes with teflon... has anyone used them and can I transition to synthetic lube on my items without first completely cleaning off the residue of the mineral oil that I was using before?

Also, would you use the High viscosity on metal wheel-bearings or low visc?

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I don't know about compatibility; but regarding viscosity, use high viscosity on gears and gearboxes, low viscosity on everything else. You're lubing your trains a lot. I would clean off the residue before relubing to keep build up from creating a mess.

 

[S 3/6]

Thanks Russ.. I lube them as per the maintenance instructions provided by Marklin... 50 hours HO and 20 hours 1 gauge... how would you do it? I know some wait till they "need" it, but I have no idea what that means... I prefer to go from my log sheets that I keep for all my items.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I don't have Marklin, but if that is what their instructions say, then do it. Do you keep track of how many hours the train operates. When they reccomend 50 hours, they are talking about 50 operating hours, not 50 clock hours. I would inspect the trains to make they don't already have excessive lube on them. Also if the old lube has picked up dust or lint, clean everything out and dry it before lubing.

 

[S 3/6]

Yeah, I keep log sheets of how many operating hours I have on them. I use close estimates as I'm not actually running a stop watch.

How do you know if a loc is over oiled though? I can't see any standing oil on the gears, nor do I see any dripping under the loc... is there a sure way to know? Basically the gears (which are all brass on marklin) almost look dry after the one drop is absorbed into them..

The only other area I oil is the axles. Again, 1 drop per 50 hours, and on my rolling stock I do it just when it's new, then again every year or so, as I'm not going to keep logs on each piece of rolling stock,

 

[nyoil]

Proper lubricants for all scales

Greetngs all,

I came across your forum during a web search. My company, TAI Lubricants is the small volume distributor for Nye Lubricants, Inc. About 8 years ago,
together with Nye, we developed a synthetic lubricating kit designed for the model railroader and other hobbies.

When applying a lubricant, grease or oil, you want to make sure that the place your applying it to is clean. Use any type of solvent that you are sure will not ruin your project. Meaning, some plastics do not react well with various solvents. Once your area has been properly cleaned, apply a small amount of oil. Remember this statement when applying oil to any project: LESS IS BETTER. Apply a small amount and wipe off any excess. There will be a thin film of oil that actually does the lubricating. If you apply lots of oil to an area, all sorts of problems can occur.

As for using a heavy viscosity versus a light viscosity depends upon your application. I do not recommend using a heavy viscosity on a Z Scale. This small scale doesn't have the power to use such an oil. Use the heavy viscosity on gears: again use very little and wipe away any excess. Use the light viscosity on axles and any other part you feel needs a drop of quality oil.

The Hobby Kit that we designed contains three components. It has a 2 oz. needle bottle of heavy viscosity synthetic oil; a 2 oz. needle bottle of light viscosity synthetic oil and a 2 oz. tube of synthetic grease with Teflon. The kit sells for $19.95. www.lubekits.com

I hope this helps answers some of your questions. If you need any additional information, you may contact me at nyoil@aol.comor or (302) 326-0200.

Regards,
Tom Madden
TAI Lubricants
PO Box 1579
Hockessin, DE 19707
USAwww.lubekits.com

 

[S 3/6]

Thanks Tom,

I use you products on my Marklin HO and 1 Gauge, and so far no problem. I had first thought that a problem with my 1 Gauge was due to the oil, but later found out it was a problem of low power output on my controller. The loc draws about 2.5amps and the controller can only put out a 1.2A digital feed.

I got your hobby kit and use the grease for the heavy gears on my 1 gauge, and the heavy visc on the metal to metal axles of the 20lb+ locs, and light on the metal bearings of the pax and freight cars that weigh about 3-4lbs..

Question for you, you say less is more, but then how does one know when to re-oil... is it when the current oil gets dirty? or what? Also, if there develops a black ring due to dirt, should one clean all of this away before reapplying lube?

thanks

Sam

 

[nyoil]

lubricants for trains

Sam,

Thank you for your response. As for your question on how one knows when to reapply. The oil will eventually evaporate or wear thin. This means it will have to be reapplied based on the users opinion. Depending upon how often the trains are run will determine how often this needs to be done.

Pouring more oil or grease on a part is not going to make it run better or for longer periods of time. In fact, the opposite will happen. LESS IS BETTER.

Regards,

Tom Madden
TAI Lubricants
PO Box 1579
Hockessin, DE 19707
USA