CO2 replica lubricant - GRAPHLON
Jan 24, 2023 13:47:24 GMT
Wild Bill, flatrajectory, and 3 more like this
Post by HeadHunter on Jan 24, 2023 13:47:24 GMT
One of the things that's always been a bug bear with me is the lack of a dedicated lubricant for our prized pieces, as a result I've tried a few different types of lubrication to see if I could find a suitable solution, which all have unfortunately been a bit underwhelming for one reason or another.
Petroleum based lubricants - Although petroleum based oils make for a great lubricant normally their inherent properties have a negative impact on silicon and rubber seals as they cause premature ageing and eventually failure. So on the plus side, they have great lubricating properties but on the negative side they can destroy our guns from the inside if they contaminate the seals.
Silicon based lubricants - Silicon is a great lubricant too, as well as being a protector for our delicate seals but only seems to come either as a very light oil or as a very heavy grease. As an oil it's too light, dries quite quickly and has no 'grab' (more on this term later) and as a grease it has too much 'grab' and effectively works against itself as a lubricant. Silicon has a very wide temperature tolerance too, it neither sludges in the sub zero temperatures or thins out too much in the much higher positive temperatures either, which considering the dynamic temperature ranges that we inherently have when using CO2 powered replicas its an important point to remember, eg. shooting during the summer in high C's combined with the cooling factor of CO2 gases enacting on the gun makes the working temperature range of a CO2 gun can run as much as from -31ºC to +30ºC (during a hot summer day).
Graphite powder - This is a dry lubricant that is normally applied with a soft brush or a puffer bottle to coat the surfaces. It reduces friction between surfaces but alas has no 'grab' and is soon pushed out of any position by the forces enacted upon the same surfaces that it's trying to protect. In a positive note, it's totally inert and does not react against seals.
Teflon powder - This is again (just like graphite) is a dry lubricant that is applied in it's micronised form in much the same way as graphite is, it's a far superior friction reducer than even graphite but unfortunately has the same negative aspects too, as in it's soon moved out of position by the motions of the bearing surfaces and again, just like graphite, it is totally inert and does not effect the internal seals in any way.
The Grab factor - as previously mentioned in the silicon section above, the grab factor is an important aspect of any lubricant. The term 'viscosity' could be substituted for 'grab' but does not fully explain the action properly. When a grease (like silicon) is applied to the rails of an auto it does lubricate and protect the bearing surfaces but more importantly it 'grabs' the slide with too much force and increases the friction by holding onto it, the gun has to overcome this 'grab' force to push the slide out of battery which in turn puts extra pressure onto the recoil valve's seals (the CO2 has to push harder to move the slide). If the lubricant has little to no 'grab' factor, it will not stay where it's been applied. So any lubricant needs to have sufficient 'grab' to keep it where it should be but not too much that it reduces its effectiveness as an actual lubricant. I've used the example of the slide on an auto but it equally holds true for the hammer of a revolver or the cylinder revolving around the crane arm, this will cause a higher pre-load on a double action trigger pull in any revolver and even reduce the falling speed (and force) that the hammer will exert onto the main valve when the revolver is fired.
So for any effective lubricant to be used in CO2 replicas has to have a very specific set of requirements;
1 - Unaffected by temperatures from -31ºC to +30ºC (a CO2 replicas working temperature range)
2 - Safe to use on internal seals
3 - Obviously lubricates all parts
4 - Has a low 'grab' factor (stays roughly where it's put but doesn't create frictional grab)
And one that I'd like to see is....
5 - Even when dry retains some friction reducing properties
The last point (#5) is one that I've come across from a previous experiment that I did when I combined silicon grease with Pellgun oil, the Pellgun oil reduced the grab enough that it was a very effective and safe lubricant to use in CO2 guns BUT after a short while wore thin to such a point that it became non effective and the gun went back to being in a dry condition which, unless the lubricant is re-applied regularly, allows parts to succumb to frictional wear and tear. But I do like the safe aspect of being able to use it and not have to worry about contamination with the seals.
Stealing an idea from another hobby.
In the world of bike riding, specifically chain driven push bikes, they use a graphite based chain lubricant. This graphite based waterproof lubricant eventually dries out but still has friction reducing properties because of the inclusion of graphite, I really like that idea !
Teflon can be even more of a dry lubricant than graphite and is sometimes used as an extra additive in bike chain lubricants for that very reason, in its micronised dry form it's like a super slippery talc.
The birth of Graphlon
So about six months ago I made my first batch and have been testing it since then. I was so (overly) confident in it's ability as a lubricant that I've used it on my whole collection (about 30 replicas), stripping each one down, removing any old lubricants, oils & greases and replacing it with this new 'Supa-Lube'.
As with all newly lubed guns they felt great, nice and slick, in fact really, really slick. The slides on all of my autos feel smooth and very free, the action of my revolvers feels very light and crisp. So I kept using them, putting them through their paces and decided that I wouldn't release any information about it until I had tested it thoroughly over a good period of time.
My only concern was that once the lubricant had dried out that instead of turning into a dry lubricant it would turn into a really fine grinding paste that'll eventually would cause damage to pivot points, bearing surfaces and the seals, but this proved to be an unfounded fear.
How to make GRAPHLON
Ingredients
A - Silicon grease
B - Silicon oil
C - Micronised teflon
D - Micronised graphite (get the finest you can get, the finer the better)
(Micronised = very small <53um / 1.6 micron sized particles)
You can find everything you need from reputable buyers on eBay, that's where I got mine from. I purchased 50g of both teflon and graphite (which was way too much, lol) for £7.50 and £2.99 respectively, the silicon grease was about £3.89 and silicon oil is pretty cheap too (all prices quoted include P&P).
Method
The ratio of A:C:D is 1:1:1 by volume (NOT weight)
Mix the silicon grease with the teflon thoroughly, take your time to mix well. Once you've mixed those two then start mixing the graphite in, again mix thoroughly until all three parts are mixed properly. Once this is done you'll notice that the 'grab' factor is extremely high with it, this is where the silicon oil comes in. Start by adding a few (2-3) drops of the oil and keep mixing thoroughly, test the 'grab' and if still too high then repeat the process of adding a few drops more and mixing again and then test the 'grab' again (rinse & repeat, etc.). The consistency of the finished product will be roughly somewhere between a high grab grease and a low (practically non-existent) grab oil, if you add too much oil the graphite and teflon will drop out of suspension and you'll lose the useful properties of including the ingredients in the first place. But even if you do let it down too much, you can then just add another equal portion of each of the main three ingredients (silicon grease first, teflon second and finally the graphite, carefully mixing at every step) and try again.
The reason for mixing in that specific order (if you actually needed a reason) is that the silicon grease is transparent and the teflon is white, when mixing those two together you can visibly see the correct end result, once you add the graphite, which is black, you can see if that mixes correctly as the colour change is quite dramatic (from clear with white speckles to deep opaque black).
As to defining what constitutes the correct consistency, well that's a hard one to describe, you want it to be sticky enough to stay where you put it but not too sticky that it grabs too hard. I found that the very first gun that I used it on (a KWC 1911) it bound the slide, I could feel the stickiness (what I've termed as 'grab') when I tried to rack the slide so I wiped it all off, added a few more drops of silicon oil, mixed it all up and tried again, this time it felt much better, so I wiped it all off again, added a few more drops (of silicon oil) and re-applied, this time it was absolutely perfect, so slick that it felt the best it's ever been ! I kid you not, it was so superfluously smooth that I was quite taken back.
I should add that with all the components being either inert or non-reactive, the lubricant is non toxic, non marking (wipes off of skin easily and leaves no marks at all) and safe to have around, I wouldn't want to eat it but if you did ingest a very small amount of it I can't see it doing you that much (if any) harm at all, which is always a good thing.
The first batch I made was made from approximately a level teaspoon of each of the three main ingredients and that was sufficient enough to lubricate all of the guns in my collection (roughly 30) and still have some left over.
Applying GRAPHLON
Obviously strip the gun down and clean off any previous lubricant that you've used, inspect any worn areas and bear these areas in mind when applying the lubricant, as these will be the places where the lubrication is actually needed. Most of the time I simply applied it with a very thin chopped down bamboo skewer, that way I could just 'dot' it into various places, I did use a cotton bud in places where I needed to spread an even coat of it (like the slide and frame rails). I found that it easily adhered to anywhere I decided to put it and it readily spread where it needed to go.
I found that lubricating the slides on my autos resulted in any excess lube being pushed out at the rear end of the slides after a good amount of slide racking which I just wiped off, I continued to rack the slide until nothing more was pushed out and left it at that.
Internal parts (trigger pivot, hammer pivot, cylinder bearing surfaces, crane arm, ejector rod, inner barrel lock up points on autos, etc.) just require a very small amount to be applied, less is definitely more when it comes to lubrication. Remember that if you over apply a low grab lubricant it will increase the grab factor considerably and that will ultimately result in poor quality lubrication.
Ageing
None of my guns have had the lubrication dry out in the six months (or so) that I've been using Graphlon but I did try to simulate it by applying it to a small square of kitchen towel, this absorbed the silicon oils out of the lubricant and left a dry mixture of teflon and graphite on the surface which was remarkably slippery to the touch. Now I am aware that paper is not a metal and the reaction could well be slightly different but they should have common similarities and what struck me was the fact that the teflon graphite mix stayed firmly affixed to the paper towel.
Final thoughts.....
As I stated right at the beginning, I've been looking for a suitable lubricant that's dedicated for use in CO2 replica guns. Ours are not the standard break barrel air rifles or the pre charged, tank fed, high power FAC monsters that we commonly see airgun lubricants designed for, and we as CO2 users have very different defining requirements for a general lubrication, one that is effective within a wide temperature range and is safe to use on our seals. I've been searching, researching and testing out options for the last few years, none have been perfect, in fact most have never even been near to satisfactory but I feel that GRAPHLON (I should really Copyright that name, lol) ticks all the right boxes for me, it's a lubricant, it's works well within the operating range of temperatures for our guns and most importantly, is totally safe on our seals. The fact that it hasn't dried out, either over time or in use, suggests to me that even if the silicon oil dries out the silicon grease portion of the mix keeps it from drying out totally but even then you're just left with the teflon and graphite which are both 'dry' lubricants in themselves. I've repeatedly placed lubricated guns on radiators for hours at an end only to find that they still remain lubricated even when the guns are excessively warm to the touch and the lubrication has not dried out in the slightest ! Which was a surprising result.
Now I could have started making batches of the stuff, bottled it up, stuck a fancy label on it and started selling it for an over inflated price on the forums, eBay, Facebook etc., but that's not me and that goes against the ethos of this fine forum. I've found the solution, I've shared the information and I'm hoping that some of you (and your guns) will benefit from all of my work too. I will be making a few more batches up, mainly as I've got loads of the bloody stuff (lol) and once I get some form of storage sorted (little jars possibly) I will be looking to get rid of some, so if you're interested and you don't mind paying a few quid to cover ingredients, jar and P&P costs then I'll be more than happy to send you some GRAPHLON © (lol) so that you can try it out for yourself.
As always, any questions ? Just ask......
Petroleum based lubricants - Although petroleum based oils make for a great lubricant normally their inherent properties have a negative impact on silicon and rubber seals as they cause premature ageing and eventually failure. So on the plus side, they have great lubricating properties but on the negative side they can destroy our guns from the inside if they contaminate the seals.
Silicon based lubricants - Silicon is a great lubricant too, as well as being a protector for our delicate seals but only seems to come either as a very light oil or as a very heavy grease. As an oil it's too light, dries quite quickly and has no 'grab' (more on this term later) and as a grease it has too much 'grab' and effectively works against itself as a lubricant. Silicon has a very wide temperature tolerance too, it neither sludges in the sub zero temperatures or thins out too much in the much higher positive temperatures either, which considering the dynamic temperature ranges that we inherently have when using CO2 powered replicas its an important point to remember, eg. shooting during the summer in high C's combined with the cooling factor of CO2 gases enacting on the gun makes the working temperature range of a CO2 gun can run as much as from -31ºC to +30ºC (during a hot summer day).
Graphite powder - This is a dry lubricant that is normally applied with a soft brush or a puffer bottle to coat the surfaces. It reduces friction between surfaces but alas has no 'grab' and is soon pushed out of any position by the forces enacted upon the same surfaces that it's trying to protect. In a positive note, it's totally inert and does not react against seals.
Teflon powder - This is again (just like graphite) is a dry lubricant that is applied in it's micronised form in much the same way as graphite is, it's a far superior friction reducer than even graphite but unfortunately has the same negative aspects too, as in it's soon moved out of position by the motions of the bearing surfaces and again, just like graphite, it is totally inert and does not effect the internal seals in any way.
The Grab factor - as previously mentioned in the silicon section above, the grab factor is an important aspect of any lubricant. The term 'viscosity' could be substituted for 'grab' but does not fully explain the action properly. When a grease (like silicon) is applied to the rails of an auto it does lubricate and protect the bearing surfaces but more importantly it 'grabs' the slide with too much force and increases the friction by holding onto it, the gun has to overcome this 'grab' force to push the slide out of battery which in turn puts extra pressure onto the recoil valve's seals (the CO2 has to push harder to move the slide). If the lubricant has little to no 'grab' factor, it will not stay where it's been applied. So any lubricant needs to have sufficient 'grab' to keep it where it should be but not too much that it reduces its effectiveness as an actual lubricant. I've used the example of the slide on an auto but it equally holds true for the hammer of a revolver or the cylinder revolving around the crane arm, this will cause a higher pre-load on a double action trigger pull in any revolver and even reduce the falling speed (and force) that the hammer will exert onto the main valve when the revolver is fired.
So for any effective lubricant to be used in CO2 replicas has to have a very specific set of requirements;
1 - Unaffected by temperatures from -31ºC to +30ºC (a CO2 replicas working temperature range)
2 - Safe to use on internal seals
3 - Obviously lubricates all parts
4 - Has a low 'grab' factor (stays roughly where it's put but doesn't create frictional grab)
And one that I'd like to see is....
5 - Even when dry retains some friction reducing properties
The last point (#5) is one that I've come across from a previous experiment that I did when I combined silicon grease with Pellgun oil, the Pellgun oil reduced the grab enough that it was a very effective and safe lubricant to use in CO2 guns BUT after a short while wore thin to such a point that it became non effective and the gun went back to being in a dry condition which, unless the lubricant is re-applied regularly, allows parts to succumb to frictional wear and tear. But I do like the safe aspect of being able to use it and not have to worry about contamination with the seals.
Stealing an idea from another hobby.
In the world of bike riding, specifically chain driven push bikes, they use a graphite based chain lubricant. This graphite based waterproof lubricant eventually dries out but still has friction reducing properties because of the inclusion of graphite, I really like that idea !
Teflon can be even more of a dry lubricant than graphite and is sometimes used as an extra additive in bike chain lubricants for that very reason, in its micronised dry form it's like a super slippery talc.
The birth of Graphlon
So about six months ago I made my first batch and have been testing it since then. I was so (overly) confident in it's ability as a lubricant that I've used it on my whole collection (about 30 replicas), stripping each one down, removing any old lubricants, oils & greases and replacing it with this new 'Supa-Lube'.
As with all newly lubed guns they felt great, nice and slick, in fact really, really slick. The slides on all of my autos feel smooth and very free, the action of my revolvers feels very light and crisp. So I kept using them, putting them through their paces and decided that I wouldn't release any information about it until I had tested it thoroughly over a good period of time.
My only concern was that once the lubricant had dried out that instead of turning into a dry lubricant it would turn into a really fine grinding paste that'll eventually would cause damage to pivot points, bearing surfaces and the seals, but this proved to be an unfounded fear.
How to make GRAPHLON
Ingredients
A - Silicon grease
B - Silicon oil
C - Micronised teflon
D - Micronised graphite (get the finest you can get, the finer the better)
(Micronised = very small <53um / 1.6 micron sized particles)
You can find everything you need from reputable buyers on eBay, that's where I got mine from. I purchased 50g of both teflon and graphite (which was way too much, lol) for £7.50 and £2.99 respectively, the silicon grease was about £3.89 and silicon oil is pretty cheap too (all prices quoted include P&P).
Method
The ratio of A:C:D is 1:1:1 by volume (NOT weight)
Mix the silicon grease with the teflon thoroughly, take your time to mix well. Once you've mixed those two then start mixing the graphite in, again mix thoroughly until all three parts are mixed properly. Once this is done you'll notice that the 'grab' factor is extremely high with it, this is where the silicon oil comes in. Start by adding a few (2-3) drops of the oil and keep mixing thoroughly, test the 'grab' and if still too high then repeat the process of adding a few drops more and mixing again and then test the 'grab' again (rinse & repeat, etc.). The consistency of the finished product will be roughly somewhere between a high grab grease and a low (practically non-existent) grab oil, if you add too much oil the graphite and teflon will drop out of suspension and you'll lose the useful properties of including the ingredients in the first place. But even if you do let it down too much, you can then just add another equal portion of each of the main three ingredients (silicon grease first, teflon second and finally the graphite, carefully mixing at every step) and try again.
The reason for mixing in that specific order (if you actually needed a reason) is that the silicon grease is transparent and the teflon is white, when mixing those two together you can visibly see the correct end result, once you add the graphite, which is black, you can see if that mixes correctly as the colour change is quite dramatic (from clear with white speckles to deep opaque black).
As to defining what constitutes the correct consistency, well that's a hard one to describe, you want it to be sticky enough to stay where you put it but not too sticky that it grabs too hard. I found that the very first gun that I used it on (a KWC 1911) it bound the slide, I could feel the stickiness (what I've termed as 'grab') when I tried to rack the slide so I wiped it all off, added a few more drops of silicon oil, mixed it all up and tried again, this time it felt much better, so I wiped it all off again, added a few more drops (of silicon oil) and re-applied, this time it was absolutely perfect, so slick that it felt the best it's ever been ! I kid you not, it was so superfluously smooth that I was quite taken back.
I should add that with all the components being either inert or non-reactive, the lubricant is non toxic, non marking (wipes off of skin easily and leaves no marks at all) and safe to have around, I wouldn't want to eat it but if you did ingest a very small amount of it I can't see it doing you that much (if any) harm at all, which is always a good thing.
The first batch I made was made from approximately a level teaspoon of each of the three main ingredients and that was sufficient enough to lubricate all of the guns in my collection (roughly 30) and still have some left over.
Applying GRAPHLON
Obviously strip the gun down and clean off any previous lubricant that you've used, inspect any worn areas and bear these areas in mind when applying the lubricant, as these will be the places where the lubrication is actually needed. Most of the time I simply applied it with a very thin chopped down bamboo skewer, that way I could just 'dot' it into various places, I did use a cotton bud in places where I needed to spread an even coat of it (like the slide and frame rails). I found that it easily adhered to anywhere I decided to put it and it readily spread where it needed to go.
I found that lubricating the slides on my autos resulted in any excess lube being pushed out at the rear end of the slides after a good amount of slide racking which I just wiped off, I continued to rack the slide until nothing more was pushed out and left it at that.
Internal parts (trigger pivot, hammer pivot, cylinder bearing surfaces, crane arm, ejector rod, inner barrel lock up points on autos, etc.) just require a very small amount to be applied, less is definitely more when it comes to lubrication. Remember that if you over apply a low grab lubricant it will increase the grab factor considerably and that will ultimately result in poor quality lubrication.
Ageing
None of my guns have had the lubrication dry out in the six months (or so) that I've been using Graphlon but I did try to simulate it by applying it to a small square of kitchen towel, this absorbed the silicon oils out of the lubricant and left a dry mixture of teflon and graphite on the surface which was remarkably slippery to the touch. Now I am aware that paper is not a metal and the reaction could well be slightly different but they should have common similarities and what struck me was the fact that the teflon graphite mix stayed firmly affixed to the paper towel.
Final thoughts.....
As I stated right at the beginning, I've been looking for a suitable lubricant that's dedicated for use in CO2 replica guns. Ours are not the standard break barrel air rifles or the pre charged, tank fed, high power FAC monsters that we commonly see airgun lubricants designed for, and we as CO2 users have very different defining requirements for a general lubrication, one that is effective within a wide temperature range and is safe to use on our seals. I've been searching, researching and testing out options for the last few years, none have been perfect, in fact most have never even been near to satisfactory but I feel that GRAPHLON (I should really Copyright that name, lol) ticks all the right boxes for me, it's a lubricant, it's works well within the operating range of temperatures for our guns and most importantly, is totally safe on our seals. The fact that it hasn't dried out, either over time or in use, suggests to me that even if the silicon oil dries out the silicon grease portion of the mix keeps it from drying out totally but even then you're just left with the teflon and graphite which are both 'dry' lubricants in themselves. I've repeatedly placed lubricated guns on radiators for hours at an end only to find that they still remain lubricated even when the guns are excessively warm to the touch and the lubrication has not dried out in the slightest ! Which was a surprising result.
Now I could have started making batches of the stuff, bottled it up, stuck a fancy label on it and started selling it for an over inflated price on the forums, eBay, Facebook etc., but that's not me and that goes against the ethos of this fine forum. I've found the solution, I've shared the information and I'm hoping that some of you (and your guns) will benefit from all of my work too. I will be making a few more batches up, mainly as I've got loads of the bloody stuff (lol) and once I get some form of storage sorted (little jars possibly) I will be looking to get rid of some, so if you're interested and you don't mind paying a few quid to cover ingredients, jar and P&P costs then I'll be more than happy to send you some GRAPHLON © (lol) so that you can try it out for yourself.
As always, any questions ? Just ask......
