[Info-vax] VAXStation trash to treasure

[Chris]

On 08/23/18 20:34, Steven Schweda wrote:
>
>> [...] If you gently lift the label on fans, the bearings
>> are exposed and the ball bearing types in particular can be
>> refurbished well given a couple of drops of light machine
>> oil, then put the label back.
>
>     I do this too, (too) frequently.  Eons ago (1980's?), when
> the (oddball) 10V fan in a MicroVAX II BA123 got loud, I did
> my first emergency oil infusion, in the hope that I could
> find a cheap replacement fan before the thing seized up
> completely.  Eventually, I found a nice (and cheap)
> replacement at the local surplus store (ax-man.com), and put
> it on the shelf until the re-oiled loud fan got loud again.
> Years later, it was still on the shelf.  I use Mobil 1, in
> whichever viscosity my current car uses.  I often use fresh
> tape to replace the label, but then tape the label on to
> avoid information loss.
 >

I have a small can of aeroshell 12, an aviation grade gyro bearing 
lubricant with low evaporation rate. Years out of shelf life, but
seems to work fine. Mobil is also a synthetic type, fwir, though
could never afford to put it in a car :-).

>
>     Ball bearings may do badly without lube, but it's even
> more important for sleeve (sleaze) bearings.

I tend to replace all sleeve bearing types with ball bearing, last
forever if kept oiled. Just don't like having to do the same fix
twice, though most of the better quality kit did have ball bearing
types from the start...

Chris