[TowerTalk] WD-40

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2015 02:57:26 +0000
From: Al Kozakiewicz <akozak at hourglass.com>
To: "towertalk at contesting.com" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] WD-40

I was wondering what the "magic ingredient" in ATF was that busted rust.  ATF is mostly oil.  Like all non-synthetic petroleum based oils, it is a collection of distillates that have about the same molecular weight and thus condense on the same tray in the distillation column. Synthetic oils can be derived from petroleum but their main characteristic is identical discrete molecule(s) instead of a collection, making it easier to design to a specification and control the formulation.  They also have some additives.  The few MSDSs I read for ATF list only "petroleum oil" and "proprietary additives".  DEXTRON and MERCRON have been around since the stone age and are produced by zillions of manufacturers, so I don?t know what is so proprietary about them.

Makes me wonder if acetone and just about ANY oil would do the trick.

Al
AB2ZY

##  You may well be correct with the use of any oil.   Some fellow on Tower talk..a few months back, posted the
results he read in.... I think a machinist / mecchanical forum.   They did exhaustive tests, using everything from WD-40 to PB
and every other product currently on the market.  The 50-50 mix of ATF + acetone blew em all away..hands down.
Some were very expensive products..and only marginally better than PB.   Dunno if they tried different ratios of ATF to acetone
or not.  One would have to try every combo from 70-30.....all the way to the other side... like 30-70. 
I did mix a batch of 50-50..and it indeed makes WD-40 look like a sick puppy. 

Jim   VE7RF