Ian
Notorious member
I've been riding the lube-quest recovery wagon for a while now, but I fell completely off and bounced off a cliff again. That's what I get for hanging out with a bunch of enablers like all you bullet cranks.
So, here's what I did: First thing, make polymer grease. I've done this with polyethylene of various densities before, but more recent research points to homo-polymers of propene being a better choice. Having the information that one part high MW PP, 19 parts low MW PP, and 80 parts ISO 68 lubricating oil (of any type) is a good ballpark for a basic NLGI #2 grease, I set about working on that. Apparently "crash cooling" is critical to the proper formation of microscopic polymer chains. In practice, I don't have a "soft" enough polypropylene to work with, so around 10% ended up being the max I could use without the mix wanting to crumble. This made about an NLGI #3 grease with a medium-density polypropylene and Maxima K2 two-cycle engine oil and it has a drop point of around 150F. The Maxima has something like 20% polybutene, another interesting polymer. Anyway, grease done, will need to research some more proper ingredients to make a heavy-enough polymer grease to use on its own.
Since I had a good grease base, the obvious thing to do was add wax. So I made a 50/50 mix of the ester/polybutene/polypropylene and 180F micro-crystalline wax, and also a small sample using beeswax. Guess what? Beeswax will melt in fully with the pre-made polymer grease without scorching! The results of melting the grease together with either wax is something that could be considered bullet lube of a most ideal consistency, tack, flow, and "smearability". It isn't too slippery, either. I took some to my bullet-lube wear tester (after cleaning the dust and cat hair off of it, it's been under the drill press bench for a couple of years now) and it easily matches the best soap lube for film strength.
Next I made a mix using five grains beeswax, five grains 180 microwax, two grains polypropylene, and around 12 grains of K2. This is pushing just past the limit of how much PP can be used, it makes a firm, very tacky putty that almost wants to crumble, but not quite. Cool thing is the gel point is about 220F. I think adding just enough PP to a basic wax/oil lube formula to make the gel point about 180-200F will be about right. I'm already thinking of adding about 5-8% PP to a basic NRA beeswax/paraffin/Vaseline formula and seeing what sort of evil-ness that turns into.
Now to go see how badly I can coat a gun barrel with plastic! Wish me luck....
So, here's what I did: First thing, make polymer grease. I've done this with polyethylene of various densities before, but more recent research points to homo-polymers of propene being a better choice. Having the information that one part high MW PP, 19 parts low MW PP, and 80 parts ISO 68 lubricating oil (of any type) is a good ballpark for a basic NLGI #2 grease, I set about working on that. Apparently "crash cooling" is critical to the proper formation of microscopic polymer chains. In practice, I don't have a "soft" enough polypropylene to work with, so around 10% ended up being the max I could use without the mix wanting to crumble. This made about an NLGI #3 grease with a medium-density polypropylene and Maxima K2 two-cycle engine oil and it has a drop point of around 150F. The Maxima has something like 20% polybutene, another interesting polymer. Anyway, grease done, will need to research some more proper ingredients to make a heavy-enough polymer grease to use on its own.
Since I had a good grease base, the obvious thing to do was add wax. So I made a 50/50 mix of the ester/polybutene/polypropylene and 180F micro-crystalline wax, and also a small sample using beeswax. Guess what? Beeswax will melt in fully with the pre-made polymer grease without scorching! The results of melting the grease together with either wax is something that could be considered bullet lube of a most ideal consistency, tack, flow, and "smearability". It isn't too slippery, either. I took some to my bullet-lube wear tester (after cleaning the dust and cat hair off of it, it's been under the drill press bench for a couple of years now) and it easily matches the best soap lube for film strength.
Next I made a mix using five grains beeswax, five grains 180 microwax, two grains polypropylene, and around 12 grains of K2. This is pushing just past the limit of how much PP can be used, it makes a firm, very tacky putty that almost wants to crumble, but not quite. Cool thing is the gel point is about 220F. I think adding just enough PP to a basic wax/oil lube formula to make the gel point about 180-200F will be about right. I'm already thinking of adding about 5-8% PP to a basic NRA beeswax/paraffin/Vaseline formula and seeing what sort of evil-ness that turns into.
Now to go see how badly I can coat a gun barrel with plastic! Wish me luck....