Phil_F_NM wrote:

... For those gear mesh interfaces, I would use something like a 90wt gear oil with a high sulphur content. One drop on a small paintbrush is enough to lube up the appropriate (not all of the lube points) metal to metal interfaces on a whole machine.

Thanks for the tip Phil. I wonder, what is the advantage of the 90wt gear oil over very thin/little sewing machine oil?
 

Laurenz van Gaalen wrote:

Thanks for the tip Phil. I wonder, what is the advantage of the 90wt gear oil over very thin/little sewing machine oil? 

Hypoid gear oil tends to be rather sticky, and the latest offerings are also synthetic. Less is needed to paint on a metal/metal interface to provide a high amount of lubrication that stays put where it was brushed. This is just my personal opinion though. I use it for many lube points that don't require fast or reflexive movement from a spring. Places like the gear mesh and bushing points in the ribbon drive, carriage rails and bearings. I know the risk of doing some of these is that they will accumulate dust and cat hair (I have a theory that cat hair is actually the physical manifestation of dark matter, but that is for another off topic post) but when properly stored, our machines shouldn't be gathering dust. I certainly am not one who wants to allow metal/metal interfaces to be run dry because they will wear down and eventually the machine won't work properly. A normally used bicycle chain will wear and "stretch" (from constant polishing of the bushing surfaces) up to 1/8" in a couple months of riding which will cause the whole drivetrain to need replacement once the chain starts skipping. Typing a thousands of words on an unlubed machine is the same and sooner, rather than later, the parts that need lube will polish themselves out of spec.

Phil Forrest