Olive Oil Trick for greasing LA's

[DarkShadow73]

Back in the early fall when there was the explosion of problems with the 8043 Excavator's LA's I decided to try the olive oil trick that somebody posted. It really worked quite well, but I am now exposing an issue with this. I live in the cold, frozen northern state of Michigan in the USA and I don't have room in my small condo for all my models and made my one-stall garage into a Lego man-cave, and have a huge construction site diorama set up out there. Problem is the temps can fall to 30-40 degrees at night now in the garage even though I run an electric heater and also a propane gas heater when I am in there, bringing the temp up to about 55-60 for a time. I have found the olive oil has gone from a liquid form to almost a solid and has made the LA's I soaked in it nearly useless unless they are warmed up for a while before using them, and then the cylinders are still jerky and small clumps of solid olive oil can be seen on the extended rod. THe idea was great when it was warm and since most of you might not be nuts like I am use them in a garage, its about the only place I can display all my Technic and mess around with them, that being said anybody who tried this method might not have this problem, but extended exposure to cold doesn't bode well for olive oil. Unfortunately, I opened a bunch of sets and soaked all my LA's in the olive oil and all my models are experiencing this problem, even those that might not have originally had friction or lifting issues beforehand like the 8294 or 8052 which don't have as much load placed on them. On the plus side the 8295 and 8258 who were plagued with lifting issues when under load worked flawlessly until the olive oil solidified. Sucks...

[dolittle]

Back in the early fall when there was the explosion of problems with the 8043 Excavator's LA's I decided to try the olive oil trick that somebody posted. It really worked quite well, but I am now exposing an issue with this. I live in the cold, frozen northern state of Michigan in the USA and I don't have room in my small condo for all my models and made my one-stall garage into a Lego man-cave, and have a huge construction site diorama set up out there. Problem is the temps can fall to 30-40 degrees at night now in the garage even though I run an electric heater and also a propane gas heater when I am in there, bringing the temp up to about 55-60 for a time. I have found the olive oil has gone from a liquid form to almost a solid and has made the LA's I soaked in it nearly useless unless they are warmed up for a while before using them, and then the cylinders are still jerky and small clumps of solid olive oil can be seen on the extended rod. THe idea was great when it was warm and since most of you might not be nuts like I am use them in a garage, its about the only place I can display all my Technic and mess around with them, that being said anybody who tried this method might not have this problem, but extended exposure to cold doesn't bode well for olive oil. Unfortunately, I opened a bunch of sets and soaked all my LA's in the olive oil and all my models are experiencing this problem, even those that might not have originally had friction or lifting issues beforehand like the 8294 or 8052 which don't have as much load placed on them. On the plus side the 8295 and 8258 who were plagued with lifting issues when under load worked flawlessly until the olive oil solidified. Sucks...

Hi,

The problem isn't just in cold Michigan, it will happen anywhere the temperature goes to around 1-2 degrees (Celsius), vegetable oil and animal fats solidify at close to 0 degrees.

Thanks,

Noam

[rgbrown]

Back in the early fall when there was the explosion of problems with the 8043 Excavator's LA's I decided to try the olive oil trick that somebody posted. It really worked quite well, but I am now exposing an issue with this. I live in the cold, frozen northern state of Michigan in the USA and I don't have room in my small condo for all my models and made my one-stall garage into a Lego man-cave, and have a huge construction site diorama set up out there. Problem is the temps can fall to 30-40 degrees at night now in the garage even though I run an electric heater and also a propane gas heater when I am in there, bringing the temp up to about 55-60 for a time. I have found the olive oil has gone from a liquid form to almost a solid and has made the LA's I soaked in it nearly useless unless they are warmed up for a while before using them, and then the cylinders are still jerky and small clumps of solid olive oil can be seen on the extended rod. THe idea was great when it was warm and since most of you might not be nuts like I am use them in a garage, its about the only place I can display all my Technic and mess around with them, that being said anybody who tried this method might not have this problem, but extended exposure to cold doesn't bode well for olive oil. Unfortunately, I opened a bunch of sets and soaked all my LA's in the olive oil and all my models are experiencing this problem, even those that might not have originally had friction or lifting issues beforehand like the 8294 or 8052 which don't have as much load placed on them. On the plus side the 8295 and 8258 who were plagued with lifting issues when under load worked flawlessly until the olive oil solidified. Sucks...

Gee that sucks ... at least the process is completely reversible (once it warms up properly, the olive oil will all turn back to liquid).

I wonder if giving them a good swish-around in a sink full of warm soapy water would break down most of the oil (if you want to get rid of it)

[rien]

Gee that sucks ... at least the process is completely reversible (once it warms up properly, the olive oil will all turn back to liquid).

I wonder if giving them a good swish-around in a sink full of warm soapy water would break down most of the oil (if you want to get rid of it)

Mabey then by the water it gets frozen:S and metal could rusty .

I wonder if my 2 stroke oil will do the same when freezing.

I saw on you tube someone who did silicone spray on the gears and l'a s.

[Milan]

But we still can't compare silicone spray and olive oil...I mean nobody used both methods?

[DarkShadow73]

Thought about that, but kind of defeats the purpose of oiling them in the first place, then we're right back to square one. I know others have suggested different lubricants for the old style LA's, but the oil seemed like a good idea and most of the lubes suggested weren't available in USA, and not sure what is safe to use of Lego ABS without ruining the plastic.

Gee that sucks ... at least the process is completely reversible (once it warms up properly, the olive oil will all turn back to liquid).

I wonder if giving them a good swish-around in a sink full of warm soapy water would break down most of the oil (if you want to get rid of it)

[DLuders]

Well then, TechnicFreak, you'll have to take your Lego Technic out of your mancave garage for a few hours to warm up the Olive Oil and the batteries. Most folks don't put their Lego sets out in a garage. It gets just as cold here in Spokane, Washington as it does in Michigan, and I wouldn't dream of putting my expensive Lego collection out in an unheated garage.

[xsysiek]

I was testing my 8265 and 8043 in snow in -10 degrees Celsius. I lubricate them with Silicone Oil for Air Soft Guns gears and I have no problem with low temperature. I think it is better than Olive Oil.

[rien]

I was testing my 8265 and 8043 in snow in -10 degrees Celsius. I lubricate them with Silicone Oil for Air Soft Guns gears and I have no problem with low temperature. I think it is better than Olive Oil.

Sounds intresting do you have more info?

[mortenm]

I would prefer silicone oil as well - originally i bought it for use with my RC Monster Truck (as grease/oil in my differentials), but I'm also using it for some of my sons toys, where the plastic squeaks and is hard to play with.

I haven't tried it on my 8043 yet (i received my servicepack around christmas - YAY!), so I can't tell how it works, but I would be surprised if it wouldn't work.

You should be able to get silicone oil / grease in every hobby-shop, which sells either softguns or rc-models.

[Out of Sight]

I prefer silicone oil as well. I used 10w RC shocks silicone oil in my 8043. You can see my demo vid, combined with the new LAs, I lightly lubricate the gear mechanisms too..huge lifting power from just a single M motor.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=50573

For lubricating the LAs, I put them in an upright position with the shafts fully extended. A drop of light silicone oil will seep through inside the shafts by capillary action, no need to soak them. This will be a lot easier on the updated LAs since they have more side to side play compared with the old ones. For cold weather, I recommend getting the lightest silicone oil, just visit your local RC hobby shops, they have varying shock oil thicknesses to choose from. For the gears i prefer thicker weight such as 60w, it stays better on the gears, but not messy as silicone grease.

[DarkShadow73]

To DLuders: I am just curious, I have been slammed and cut down on many of my posts here on this forum. I don't knock anybody's ideas or come up with stupid responses, yes I made the mistake one time of 'accidentally' replying to a picture post, resulting in the entire set of pics being duplicated, for which I immediately apologized and TOOK their advice on how to reply without adding the entire post again, it was confusing to me at first, and also about the controversy surrounding receiving the updated LA's for the 8043 back in October. So I am wondering, are newbies just not welcome here or this is just some kind of 'high-school type clique' where some are put down? A few of you are just plain rude, sarcastic and put others down for their posts, and I have given praise on many 'high-ranking' members for their ideas. I am not new to Lego, I've been around it for 32 years since I was about 6 years old, but only been into Technic for about 8 years.

Yes I don't have the space inside my small place for most of my Lego and have had it in the garage for years with no issues, including my sets with LA's since they were introduced in 2008 with no problems, nothing rusted or corroded, they just got cold out there. Had I known the olive oil would solidify I would have thought twice and tried something different, but there was a lot of controversy again over what worked with Lego ABS plastic, I sure as hell didn't want my expensive investment to get ruined.

Well then, TechnicFreak, you'll have to take your Lego Technic out of your mancave garage for a few hours to warm up the Olive Oil and the batteries. Most folks don't put their Lego sets out in a garage. It gets just as cold here in Spokane, Washington as it does in Michigan, and I wouldn't dream of putting my expensive Lego collection out in an unheated garage.

[DLuders]

TechnicFreak, I am not "slamming" you. Since it will be impossible to get the Olive Oil completely out of the Linear Actuators, the only thing you can do is bring them out of the cold and heat them up. I know, I'm one of the folks who recommended using Olive Oil; I did not know that it would congeal when close to freezing. Nevertheless, for those Lego Technic sets that may be played with, I would much rather have (edible) Olive Oil on my fingers than Silicone Oil. Note that the grease in the new LAs would get hard in cold temperatures too, so I don't know if you can say that the OIL itself is the problem. It's the COLD.

If you have a problem with me, be kind to send me a Private Message (PM). I'm not looking for a fight.

[DarkShadow73]

DLuders -

And neither am I trying to start a fight, are you aren't the only one who has picked at my posts. Maybe you weren't looking for a fight, but it seemed that way. I have been criticized, maybe because I am a newbie, maybe not, I don't know, about 10 times since I started in this group in September. First it was because of not receiving my replacement LA's for my 8043's. I was simply pointing out that I ordered 4, got 1, no explanation. But, it seemed everybody that 'picked on me' were the ones with high post counts. Then sometimes I give feedback or ask for feedback on certain issues and some of the replies are terse and pointed, like I'm not worthy of belonging to this group. I have wanted to join a Technic group and finally found one that I could share things with, and also have taken a lot of advice and modifications for my vast collection and only once or twice have I pointed out a flaw or not agreed with the way somebody has done something on a mod or thoughts about a particular model. Once again, and here I go doing things wrong again, I don't know how to 'Private Message' you. You have to remember I am still learning, just as I did when I accidentally posted a reply to a long string of pics, resulting in all those pics being repeated. I took that advice on how to reply the right way and didn't take offense to that post, it was simply me following somebody's advice, but some of the replies I have gotten have been less than nice. I enjoy Technic, have ever since coming out of my Dark Ages in 2000, and it is a lot of fun seeing what others do, and kindly commenting.

TechnicFreak, I am not "slamming" you. Since it will be impossible to get the Olive Oil completely out of the Linear Actuators, the only thing you can do is bring them out of the cold and heat them up. I know, I'm one of the folks who recommended using Olive Oil; I did not know that it would congeal when close to freezing. Nevertheless, for those Lego Technic sets that may be played with, I would much rather have (edible) Olive Oil on my fingers than Silicone Oil. Note that the grease in the new LAs would get hard in cold temperatures too, so I don't know if you can say that the OIL itself is the problem. It's the COLD.

If you have a problem with me, be kind to send me a Private Message (PM). I'm not looking for a fight.

[Out of Sight]

Technicfreak, take it easy man....

Anyway back 2 the topic. I understand you don't have enough space to store your Lego set, which lead to storing them in a garage, cold garage. Here's a simple trick which might work! Buy a big airtight storage box, like those giant tupperware just big enough to store your model into. Condition your Lego so it's at room temperature before putting it inside the box. Now you can put it in the garage. It would be good to line the inside of the box with aluminum foil wraps (the cooking type). Aluminum will help isolate outside temperature. Hopefully this will work...I haven't tried it yet..Duh, I live in Indonesia, temps don't get anywhere below 85*F. But I was inspired by the thermo flask concept.

Edited January 10, 2011 by Out of Sight

[e-ronin]

Hello all, I'd avoid using any type of vegetable lube (olive oil, veg oil, cooking spray etc...) on anything. After a while it breaks down and forms a tar like substance that is very hard to clean off and is extremely sticky. As a better alternative light mineral oil can be picked up cheaply, it does not leave any lasting residue, will not hurt plastic or metal and is also non-toxic. I spent years working as a tech for a company that produced commercial food equipment and I cannot count how many time I've seen people ruin their equipment using olive oil or cooking spray.

Just my 2 cents hope I helped someone from trashing their parts (No flame intended).

Ed from NH

Edited January 10, 2011 by e-ronin

[DLuders]

Ed from New Hampshire, could you name the exact brand of the "Light Mineral Oil" that you use? Is it Johnson's Baby Oil?

Seriously, I respect your answer but I don't see the parallel between running Lego Linear Actuators (at room temperature) and "commercial food equipment" (which will experience higher temperatures when being cleaned and sanitized).

[e-ronin]

Ed from New Hampshire, could you name the exact brand of the "Light Mineral Oil" that you use? Is it Johnson's Baby Oil?

Seriously, I respect your answer but I don't see the parallel between running Lego Linear Actuators (at room temperature) and "commercial food equipment" (which will experience higher temperatures when being cleaned and sanitized).

The commercial food equipment that the problems were noted on are not hot and it happens on the simplest mechanical parts (slide rails on mixers, indexing mechanism on slicers etc...), it's the nature of veg based oils when they dry to become very gummy due to their organic make up and this builds up layers that resemble tar, this tar evens builds up on non-moving parts which is a clear indicator that it's being used. The areas people apply this are almost always shielded due to mechanical parts which prevents sanitizing agents access to them during normal cleaning, also most table based equipment are cleaned with light soapy water and a rag then sanitized with a chem based solution so no heat is involved at all. Any brand of mineral oil works fine as they all share the same basic properties and can be purchased cheaply at most pharmacys and grocery stores, this is preferable to petroleum based lubes that can break down plastics and are mostly toxic.

I respect your questions and hope I've clarified my reasons a little better, I'd hate for someone to ruin something when it can easily be prevented but to each their own.

Oh silicone based oils also work great.

Ed

Edited January 10, 2011 by e-ronin

[DLuders]

e-Ronin and TechnicFreak, I'm now a "convert" and will no longer recommend using Virgin Olive Oil to lubricate Lego parts. Welcome to Eurobricks, e-Ronin!

[rgbrown]

The commercial food equipment that the problems were noted on are not hot and it happens on the simplest mechanical parts (slide rails on mixers, indexing mechanism on slicers etc...), it's the nature of veg based oils when they dry to become very gummy due to their organic make up and this builds up layers that resemble tar, this tar evens builds up on non-moving parts which is a clear indicator that it's being used. The areas people apply this are almost always shielded due to mechanical parts which prevents sanitizing agents access to them during normal cleaning, also most table based equipment are cleaned with light soapy water and a rag then sanitized with a chem based solution so no heat is involved at all. Any brand of mineral oil works fine as they all share the same basic properties and can be purchased cheaply at most pharmacys and grocery stores, this is preferable to petroleum based lubes that can break down plastics and are mostly toxic.

Thanks for your informative input - I love it how on Eurobricks there's always someone who's an expert! You just prevented me olive-oiling some of my LAs, so thanks.

edit: removed all the <br>s introduced by the malfunctioning editor

Edited January 10, 2011 by rgbrown

[DarkShadow73]

To e-Ronin - Crap, I opened a bunch of new sets and just basically ran a couple day assembly line of lubing all my LA's for better performance. They all worked out great until it got real cold, but it sounds like from the latest posts from e-Ronin that I might end up with this tar-like buildup over time, even in warmer temps. I hope in the long run they all don't end up ruined, I wonder if there is some way to leach out the olive oil? Anybody got any ideas? Unfortunately I immersed them all completely in the oil overnight to make sure the cylinder completely filled with oil to make sure the oil lasted a while.

To DLuders - 'Nuff said, let's get along. Been having a real hard time last couple months with personal issues on the home front with a sick parent I care for 24/7 and maybe I overreacted due to frustrations here, so let's bury it, I do enjoy reading and responding on this forum. I have found it to be highly informative as far as mods and tips.

e-Ronin and TechnicFreak, I'm now a "convert" and will no longer recommend using Virgin Olive Oil to lubricate Lego parts. Welcome to Eurobricks, e-Ronin!

[Toastie]

Back in the early fall when there was the explosion of problems with the 8043 Excavator's LA's I decided to try the olive oil trick that somebody posted. It really worked quite well, but I am now exposing an issue with this.

Hi TechnicFreak,

did it before, sounded like a nerd, do it again:

That is not the only issue you may have in the future when using olive oil or the like. It is a natural product, it is healthy, but as far as I am concerned it is (long term wise) not suited as lubricant. Temperature is one issue, all lubricants face this issue; some more, some less. Think about motor oil you guys are using in Michigan. There is some high-tech stuff that lubricates a motor at - 20 deg C and at + 30 deg C. If you go a little cheaper, there is oil for the harsh winter time and oil for hot summers. Don't use any of that for LEGO though, it will do damage.

Olive oil has another built-in feature, the second and more nasty issue: It chemically changes with time. That's one of the reasons it is considered healthy: You body uses it by changing it chemically (otherwise it would go through your body untouched and - well leave it unaltered ... ). That also happens when it is exposed to heat, cold, light, time, what not. And it turns into lesser an lesser lubricating material eventually ending up as solid.

I would not use it for lubrication. Silicon based stuff maybe, but then again, eventually time does change this as well. If you need lubricants for you LEGO models, then you should clean them off upon long-time storage coming up.

Best regards,

Thorsten

[DarkShadow73]

Bought some mineral oil today. I drank the kool-aid, so to speak, and will do a bit more research in the future on oils. The olive oil did work great until it got cold. LIke you said though, it may break down or cause problems as another poster intimated too. My only hope is somehow getting all the olive oil out of the LA's I soaked it in. I see there haven't been any replies on that one as of yet, and due to the fact the LA's are almost completely sealed with exception of the top and bottom and what looks like a vent on the side of them where the oil seeped out a bit when I put a bunch in a ziploc. So, once again as this post will reach the top of the pile for a bit anyway, anybody got any ideas how to get oil out of them? I thought about fully extending the ram arm and hanging them upside down on a 12L axle in hopes it would slowly drip out, but got my doubts that will work.

Hi TechnicFreak,

did it before, sounded like a nerd, do it again:

That is not the only issue you may have in the future when using olive oil or the like. It is a natural product, it is healthy, but as far as I am concerned it is (long term wise) not suited as lubricant. Temperature is one issue, all lubricants face this issue; some more, some less. Think about motor oil you guys are using in Michigan. There is some high-tech stuff that lubricates a motor at - 20 deg C and at + 30 deg C. If you go a little cheaper, there is oil for the harsh winter time and oil for hot summers. Don't use any of that for LEGO though, it will do damage.

Olive oil has another built-in feature, the second and more nasty issue: It chemically changes with time. That's one of the reasons it is considered healthy: You body uses it by changing it chemically (otherwise it would go through your body untouched and - well leave it unaltered ... ). That also happens when it is exposed to heat, cold, light, time, what not. And it turns into lesser an lesser lubricating material eventually ending up as solid.

I would not use it for lubrication. Silicon based stuff maybe, but then again, eventually time does change this as well. If you need lubricants for you LEGO models, then you should clean them off upon long-time storage coming up.

Best regards,

Thorsten

[Toastie]

So, once again as this post will reach the top of the pile for a bit anyway, anybody got any ideas how to get oil out of them? I thought about fully extending the ram arm and hanging them upside down on a 12L axle in hopes it would slowly drip out, but got my doubts that will work.

Since this seems to be an emergency ... and the dripping maybe really slow ...

The pieces and everything else should be at room temperature, 20 deg C that is - to get the olive oil into the mood. Get an ultrasonic bath - in Germany some retailers occasionally sell them rather cheap. Get a well fitting glass container. Place the glass container into the bath. Fill up the ultra sonic bath with water - if you want to go all the way, use demineralized water, as used for steam irons and what not (this is just to keep your bath clean, it doesn't do anything else).

Put your adversely affected Lego pieces into the glass container. Fill up the glass container with the solvent "heptane". This may be somewhat complicated, don't know where you would get this stuff from. Again, in Germany they sell this as "white gas for cleaning purpose" - don't laugh, I looked it up on LEO (as if that would matter) - "hexane" would work as well. And other non-polar solvents - but NO aromatics!!!. ABS - the LEGO plastic - and hexane/heptane don't do much to each other. But olive oil would dissolve pretty nicely in the solvent(s). Then, after buzzing them for about 15 min do what you wanted to do, get them out of the bath and hang them upside down. Collect the gunk and dispose it, as you would dispose paint solvents. Repeat the procedure maybe twice and you should be all set.

BE CAREFUL THOUGH. The solvents are flammable. Smoking would not be a good idea. They are not toxic, so I guess this is a plus. I would do it right away, just get that dirty stuff out of your LEGOs!

Good luck and all the best

Thorsten

Edited January 18, 2011 by Toastie

[5150 Lego]

All this talk about vegtable and other cooking oils.. Has anyone tried using RC car gear oil?

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_25_1460_133/products_id/7468/n/Kyosho-TCD-Differential-Gear-Oil-Red

These oils are designed for plastic gears. I've been using somthing simular to this for a while now on standard technic gears without any problems. Don't see why it wouldn't work on LA.

Edited January 18, 2011 by 5150 Lego