Paul,
I am not an expert with lubricants: I don't have a good broad knowledge
about which classes of lubricants are better for which jobs. I know only
lubricants for some limited classes of applications and materials that
I've used in my work. So, my thoughts are rather speculative, but here
they are.
I'd be hesitant to use oil or any other liquid lubricant. And this is for
several reasons: dust/dirt is just one of them. Oil penetrating everywhere
(including the locking mechanism) and making everything, including the
hands oily is yet another one.
As far as I understand Tri-flow is teflon (PTFE) - based lubricant.
My understanding is the teflon-based lubricants are usually dirt and
dust resistant.
At least one of WD-40 (IRC, one from the "specialist" line) products that
is teflon-based, is advertised as dirt&dust resistant:
https://www.wd40specialist.com/products/dry-lube
So, from the point of view of dust and dirt, TRi-flow can be more
reasonable (then any oil) for this job.
And they have banana aroma!
https://www.triflowlubricants.com/category/lubricants
Other thoughts that I had include carbon-based lubricants.
But I don't know if they are suitable for this job or not.
I am also thinking if silicon-based lubricants would be fine with
non-metal surfaces of the ballhead that it might come in contact.
If I were you, I'd research these types of lubricants to see the pro's and
con's and see which one would be better.
HTH,
Igor
Paul Stenquist Fri, 16 Mar 2018 07:18:02 -0700 wrote:
I use a large heavy-duty Sirui bullhead when shooting off a tripod with
big glass. It’s been excellent for several years, smooth and solid. But I
think it may have picked up a few specks of dirt here and there, and now
it has a bit of a tug and hesitation in its movement. I’m wondering if
anyone has tried lubricating a bullhead with light oil. I think that may
make matters worse by attracting dirt. I can clean it somewhat by rotating
it to extreme positions while wiping it down, but that doesn’t seem to
fully solve the problem. Is lube okay or a bad idea?
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