The store where I bought one of my aluminium low D tunable whistles recommends to use PTFE tape and a drop of light machine oil for the joint.
My hardware store, instead, argues that machine oil, even a light one, contains petroleum and it will “eat”/dissolve the PTFE tape, therefore they
suggest to use silicon grease. Second question: is silicon grease the same as cork grease ?
Any advise from owners of aluminium tunable whistles ?
Thanks !
I use cork grease from my saxophone case. Avalaible at any music store. But sometimes I don’t have both at the same place and need a touch up on the whistles. I then use a very small amount of a natural chap stick. Burt’s Bees or something without chemicals. Very small amount will work. No problems on aluminum or “O” rings to date.
EXTREMELY implausible.
Here’s a chart showing the chemical resistance of various polymers. Take a look at the column under PTFE. The chart only shows A - F, but that’s enough to get the idea, since it includes fuel oil, which is a stronger oil based solvent than light lubricating oil.
http://www.texloc.com/closet/cl_chemical_resistance_chart.html
Best wishes,
Jerry
Thank you Jerry. By the way, I have one of your tweaked whistles and it is great.
Jerry is right, if oil affected teflon, your kitchen implements would go bad in the all greasy food.
In regards to the O-ring post. If O-rings are made of Buna-N (Buna Nitrile) then keep synthetic oils away from them. Petroleum and natural oils are fine.
I use Tef-Gel ™ for the tuning slide on my Impempe aluminium and O’ Brien copper whistles. I have it in my toolbag because it is used in marine applications to insulate when different metals are used, like using Stainless Steel bolts on aluminium hardware. In the marine environment, this combination would otherwise lead to severe corrosion of the aluminium.
The syringe it comes in says not to inhale the vapour if it is heated to somewhere around 450 degrees F. (The syringe is too beat up now from knocking about in my toolbag to read the exact number.) I somehow doubt my whistle would be in my mouth at that temperature.
The nice thing about the Tef-Gel ™ is that it’s a bit sticky, so it keeps the headjoint from sliding apart at the same time as it will never get stuck, and it seems to stay forever unless you wipe it off, so no need to redo the lubrication.
The head on my Impempe C was completely stuck on the tube when I got the whistle. I solved that by letting the whistle soak in diesel fuel over night. Don’t try this with a whistle that has any synthetic materials or paint, the Impempe is aluminium only.
More info here, if you didn’t figure out that you can click the name in the text above:
http://www.tef-gel.com/contain.php?param=tefgel_infor
Owen
There is special teflon tape sold for propane/natural gas applications - more expensive of course. I have no idea what is different about it
Well I looked quickly on the internet and found this:
“Regular Teflon (or TFE) tape is forbidden on gas pipe connections, because small pieces of tape can get shredded during assembly, break off, and flow downstream to block a gas valve. There is a special Teflon tape available for gas piping, but I prefer the liquid compound.”
So maybe the special tape has nothing to do with chemical incompatibility.
URL: http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/plumbing/gas/move/pipe.htm
Bill
edit,
and this (bold emphasis mine):
Kimball Midwest offers Yellow Gas Line Teflon Tape, a maximum density tape designed for positive sealing on gas lines. The Gas Line Teflon Tape’s yellow color provides immediate visual identification that the proper tape has been used. It also resists stringing and shredding.
For use on pipe sizes up to 3” in assemblies handling Natural Gas, Methane, Propane, Butane, and Petroleum Distillates not exceeding 2,250 P.S.I, Yellow Gas Line Teflon Tape is U.L. listed under CHM1677 Pipe Joint Tape 14710 and 12780 and CSA approved under #4-90. It is also AGA (American Gas Association) Approved, and meets Mil Specs T-27730A and AA-58092.