Omega D Care -- Lubricant type for enlarger rods & track

[f/Alex]

Hi Forums!

I work part time in a school darkroom, and part of the back-to-school thing is getting a few enlargers back into shape for the few fellow students who use them. Part of this is that the enlargers need to be cleaned, there's no ventilation in the darkroom, and none of these machines have been lubricated in the last century. Since they're Omega Ds, they have a pair of brass rods that appear to be parts that should be semi lubricated. Since they're tarnished to high hell, and a lot of these enlargers don't hold focus very well, and therefore need to come apart anyways, I'm planning to submit to my supervisor a request for some really fine Steel Wool, and Lithium Grease. The plan is to clean up the contact surfaces on the brass rods, strip off the top layer of corrosion, and then thinly lubricate them to hopefully eliminate the shrill squeaks and make focusing a bit easier.

Pitch over, question is: would lithium grease react with anything commonly found in photo chemistry? I use it on my bessy 45mx at home, but if someone goes wrong in a university setting, i'm partially liable, so figured I'd run it past the net first.

 

[f/Alex]

RE: also what grain of steel wool should I use? the plan was 0000 stuff meant for polishing to avoid taking off any real amount of material or ruining the contact surface. Alternatively, dish soap and a dish sponge is an option, but i'm not sure that would work.

EDIT: figured I should include that the service manual says to use vaseline but honestly, sorry, i don't agree. The year is not 1970 anymore and we have better synthetic lubricants than that.

 

[Paul Howell]

Here is a link the manual for the D2, maintenance is covered in the past part.

http://www.jollinger.com/photo/cam-coll/manuals/enlargers/omega/D2%20Condenser%20and%20Dichro.pdf

 

[f/Alex]

Here is a link the manual for the D2, maintenance is covered in the past part.

http://www.jollinger.com/photo/cam-coll/manuals/enlargers/omega/D2%20Condenser%20and%20Dichro.pdf

Yup, i've read that, refer to my reply. Vaseline seems like a bad long term solution, these enlarges will get little to no love after I graduate. There's always a few ppl who use em, but i'm the only one I know who knows anything abt their servicing. I hate to say it but i'm the only one in the entire university who has managed to even get them level...

 

[MattKing]

The reason that Vaseline is recommended is that these enlargers were designed to be easily lubricated regularly and simply with a lubricant that was reliable and consistent and cheap and really easy to obtain.
Sort of like Chapstick .
Or older cars that you would expect to need to have lubricated each time you changed the oil.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Never use steel wool. It can leave behind abrasive strands which rust. Use a synthetic Scotchbrite pad or sanding sponge of the correct amount of abrasiveness instead.

 

[f/Alex]

Never use steel wool. It can leave behind abrasive strands which rust. Use a synthetic Scotchbrite pad or sanding sponge of the correct amount of abrasiveness instead.

Got It! Sanding Sponge it is.

enlargers were designed to be easily lubricated regularly

yea, unfortunately, we're looking for the longest term care solution for these enlargers cause once I'm gone, no one is going to be taking care of them. There's only about 3-5 students a year who use them, since we haven't had a darkroom class here in 2 years. I'm going to go with the lithium grease solution, I'll keep it thin. The ventilation situation in this room is dismal and all the equipment is constantly taking the shit. When I get closer to leave I might oil some of the exposed metal, who knows.